Vice President Kamala Harris was not involved in the diplomacy that got journalist Evan Gershkovich and fellow American Paul Whelan freed from Russian prisons – but she was on hand to serve up some trademark word salad as they touched US soil for the first time.
Harris, the presumptive 2024 Democratic nominee to replace President Joe Biden, had just embraced the prisoner-swap duo as they got off a jet at Joint Base Andrews just before midnight, when she walked over to the gaggle of reporters and let loose.
‘This is just an extraordinary testament to the importance of having a president who understands the power of diplomacy and understands the strength that rests in understanding the significance of diplomacy,’ Harris said in her latest word salad.
Stuttering and seemingly stumbling over her words at times, the democrat added: ‘[A]nd strengthening alliances.
‘This is just an incredible day’, she finally concluded, as the president looked on.
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Vice President Kamala Harris offered up a stammering statement praising Joe Biden shortly after greeting Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan back on US soil. The president looked on as he waited for her to finish
The journalist (seen here) and two other falsely imprisoned Americans landed in the US late Thursday after being freed in a historic prisoner swap. Gershkovich is seen being greeted by relatives and friends here
The plane carrying the formerly detained Americans landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland after taking off from Ankara, Turkey, around 8:00pm local time.
Gershkovich,32, a Wall Street Journal reporter, was seen on Thursday while boarding a plane in Turkey. He had been wrongly accused of espionage, and was detained in Russia while on assignment on March 29 of last year.
Whelan, a 54-year-old ex Marine, was sentenced to 16 years in 2020 after being detained two years earlier on suspicion of spying. Both were freed Thursday as part of the East-West prisoner swap – the largest since the Cold War.
After being freed from their Russian cells, the former prisoners took a four-hour flight from Moscow to Ankara. They then boarded a plane for a 10-hour trek back to the US.
She was seen running into the arms of her family Thursday, after embracing both Kamal Harris and Joe Biden upon exiting the plane.
But it was Whelan who disembarked first, followed by Gershkovich, and then Kurmasheva. All three were seen giving Harris and Biden handshakes before blissfully running into the arms of their respective families.
Whelan had been out of their grasp for five-and-a-half years, while Gershkovich’s was without him for a year and six months.
The plane carrying the Americans from their Russian imprisonment landed late Thursday, after taking off from Ankara, Turkey around 8:00 pm local time
The plane landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland just before midnight, with Gershkovich, a 32-year-old reporter imprisoned last year under suspicion of espionage, seen disembarking here. His mother Ella Milman was seen giving him a warm hug as President Joe Biden looked on
He had been wrongly accused of espionage, and was detained in Russia while working as a journalist on March 29 of last year. Fellow freed hostage Paul Whelan is seen meeting the president and vice president in the background
Harris and Biden – credited with negotiating the deal – arrived separately in their own motorcades moments before, and happily welcomed the now-freed hostages
Harris is seen greeting the wrongly incarcerated Wall Street Journal reporter here, just before midnight
Several Wall Street Journal employees were on the scene as well, anxiously awaiting their coworker’s arrival
Kurmasheva was cuffed six and half years ago by a court in the central city of Kazan, for supposedly of ‘spreading false information’ about the military
Her family appeared ecstatic to see her again, as was the case with the other families.
Following the revelry, the three were cleared to take another plane to San Antonio, where they will be checked out by doctors and cleared to return home.
Minutes before landing, President Biden and his motorcade made its way to the landing area, as Vice President Kamala Harris, traveled separately.
Several Wall Street Journal employees were on the scene as well, anxiously awaiting their coworker’s arrival on the tarmac.
The prisoners were seen speaking with the president and vice president on the landing strip as onlookers cheered, in a display that, instead of occurring in private, was aired for the world to see.
Whelan, a 54-year-old ex Marine, was cuffed for five-and-a-half years on phony espionage charges
He is seen greeting Biden here, before being reunited with his family
He was sentenced to 16 years in 2020 after being detained in Moscow two years before, under suspicion of spying
He disembarked first, followed by Gershkovich. Both got to speak to the president and Harris
Harris and Gershkovic shared a moment as the journalist walked on US soil for the first time in over a year
Following the revelry, the freed hostages were cleared to take another plane to San Antonio, where they will be checked out by doctors and cleared to return home
Earlier in the day, Biden – who is credited with negotiating their release – delivered remarks from the White House flanked by the hostages’ relatives, hailing the occasion as historic.
‘Their brutal ordeal is over, and they’re free,’ Biden, 81, said from the Oval Office at around noon Thursday, roughly 12 hours before the trio’s landing.
He added how the former prisoners had just left Russia and were on their way home, and revealed he has spoken to them over the phone already.
He said their relatives were able to as well, paving the way for the widely seen reunion.
Biden went on to call the multi-nation deal involving seven countries ‘a feat of diplomacy’, and one that he touted as the fruits of ‘friendship.’
Meanwhile, Russian State television also touted the agreement as a victory, after airing their own broadcast of President Vladimir Putin’s own reunion with eight Russian nationals imprisoned overseas, including a man who was serving a life sentence in Germany for murder.
Also freed was Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva (at right), who was sentenced to over six years in a Russian prison in a rapid, secret trial late last month
She was seen embracing the president as well, after speaking briefly with both him and Harris. She had been detained for more than six years
The woman was then seen running into the arms of her family, thankful she avoided a prison sentence for supposed espionage
Also released were confirmed cyber criminals Roman Seleznev and Vladislav Klyushin, who were returned from the US.
Vadim Konoshchenko, who was accused of providing US-made electronics and ammunition to the Russian military, was also released from the US, while Spanish-Russian journalist Pavel Rubtsov was released from Poland.
Married couple Artem and Anna Dultsev were returned to Russia from Slovenia, where they were convicted of espionage charges.
Mikhail Mikushin, an academic who entered Norway as a Brazilian citizen, has also been released. He was arrested on suspicion of spying in 2022.
The convicts were released in exchange for 16 Western prisoners, including the three US citizens.
A triumphant Biden, meanwhile, told reporters on the tarmac as the reunions were taking place: ‘I was absolutely convinced we could get it done.’
After being bombarded by his Journal colleagues, a beaming Gershkovich added, ‘I’m home.’
