WASHINGTON — President Biden said “this is a very good afternoon” Thursday as he appeared at the White House with the families of three Americans and one green-card holder who were released in a prisoner swap with Russia.
The swap included US citizens Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva and green-card holder Vladimir Kara-Murza.
“Now their brutal ordeal is over and they’re free,” the 81-year-old commander-in-chief said after the four were flown to Ankara, Turkey.
“Moments ago, their families and I were able to speak to them on telephone from the Oval Office.”
Whelan is a former Marine jailed since 2018 on espionage allegations. The other three are journalists: Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter accused of seeking out sensitive information; Kurmasheva, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reporter; and Kara-Murza, a Washington Post columnist.
Biden said he personally knew Kara-Murza, who he said was a fellow pallbearer at Sen. John McCain’s funeral in 2018.
“Anyone who questions with allies matter — they do. They matter,” Biden said. “Today is a powerful example of why it’s vital to have friends in this world, friends you can trust, work with and depend upon, especially on matters of great consequences sensitivity like this.”
The prisoner swap notably did not include Marc Fogel, the retired Pennsylvania school teacher who was arrested in August 2021 for possessing 17 grams of what he said was medical marijuana — despite advocacy on his behalf from members of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation.
Russian hitman Vadim Krasikov, jailed for life in Germany for murder, was among the prisoners released to Russia.
Earlier US-Russia prisoner releases under Biden included a pair of 2022 swaps — with former US Marine Trevor Reed released in exchange for Russian drug smuggler Konstantin Yaroshenko, and the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was handed a nine-year sentence after she pleaded guilty to traveling with a small amount of cannabis oil, for “Merchant of Death” arms trafficker Viktor Bout.
