Biden and Harris to meet freed Americans arriving in the US after Russia prisoner exchange – live | Russia

Biden, Harris to meet freed Americans arriving from Russia

Joanna Walters

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, greeted the returning prisoners with a handshake and a clap on the back as they landed in Moscow, Reuters is reporting.

Putin told the released Russian prisoners that he “wanted to congratulate everyone on their return to the motherland”, the New York Times reported. Putin was joined by the Russian spy chief, Sergei Naryshkin, and Andrei Belousov, the minister of defence.

Today’s exchange deal included eight prisoners returning to Russia:

• Vadim Krasikov: Putin had long indicated Krasikov as his No 1 demand in any swap. He was arrested in 2019 after shooting dead the Chechen exile Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in broad daylight in a Berlin park.

• Artem Dultsev and Anna Dultseva: the pair were deep-cover Russian spies who pretended to be a married Argentinian couple. They lived in Ljubljana, Slovenia, with their two children, from where they are believed to have carried out tasks for Russian intelligence across Europe.

• Mikhail Mikushin: Mikushin was arrested in the northern Norwegian city of Tromsø, where he worked as a researcher at a university, ironically engaged in assessing hybrid security threats.

• Vladislav Klyushin: a Russian businessman with ties to the Kremlin, Klyushin was sentenced to nine years in a US prison for his role in a $90m insider trading scheme involving hacked secret earnings information about multiple companies.

• Roman Seleznev: the son of a Russian Duma deputy, Seleznev was sentenced to 27 years in prison, the longest-ever hacking-related sentence in the US.

• Vadim Konoshchenok: Konoshchenok was arrested over a scheme to export US-made technology intended for use by Russia in its invasion of Ukraine.

• Pablo González/Pavel Rubtsov: a dual Spanish-Russian national, González was a journalist who had worked for many years for Spanish publications, frequently in Russia and Ukraine. He was arrested in Poland, near the border with Ukraine, in March 2022 and has been held in jail in Poland since, accused of being a Russian spy.

A plane carrying Russian citizens released in the prisoner swap has arrived in Moscow from Ankara, Russian state media is reporting.

CNN previously reported that all seven aircraft involved in the prisoner swap were airborne, according to flight tracking data.

Six of the flights are US-registered planes, it said, with the tracking data showing they were heading north-east from the Turkish capital and flying across Europe.

The Wall Street Journal’s Vaughn Sterling has shared a video clip of the newsroom reacting to the paper’s editor-in-chief, Emma Tucker, announcing Evan Gershkovich’s release.

Exiled Belarusian opposition leader says exchange is good sign for her country’s political prisoners

The US ambassador to Turkey, Jeff Flake, said a plane carrying the released Americans has taken off en route to the US.

The press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has issued a statement welcoming the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty editor Alsu Kurmasheva as part of the prisoner exchange.

“Evan and Alsu have been apart from their families for far too long,” said CPJ head Jodie Ginsberg, adding that the pair had been detained and sentenced on “spurious charges” that had been “intended to punish them for their journalism and stifle independent reporting”.

Their release is welcome – but it does not change the fact that Russia continues to suppress a free press. Moscow needs to release all jailed journalists and end its campaign of using in absentia arrest warrants and sentences against exiled Russian journalists.

European Council president welcomes release of prisoners

Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, has confirmed that today’s prisoner exchange includes Mikhail Mikushin, a suspected senior Russian military intelligence officer who was arrested in Norway in 2022.

“The exchange has been made possible through extensive international cooperation,” Støre said in a statement, the Associated Press reported.

For the Norwegian authorities, it has been important to contribute in such cooperation with our close allies. A close collaboration across several countries has made this possible.

The White House’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said no money was exchanged as part of today’s exchange.

Sullivan, who celebrated “one of the largest and certainly the most complex exchange in history”, added that no sanctions were loosened to facilitate the deal.

Joe Biden has shared a photo of the newly freed Americans on a plane leaving Russia. The US president wrote:

After enduring unimaginable suffering and uncertainty, the Americans detained in Russia are safe, free, and have begun their journeys back into the arms of their families.

The US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, in his briefing with reporters, described Marc Fogel, an American sentenced to 14 years of hard labour in Russia, as “wrongfully detained”.

This is the first time a US official has categorized Fogel as “wrongfully detained”, CNN reports.

The US state department has not publicly designated Fogel as wrongfully detained but has called for his release.

The family of Marc Fogel, an American teacher detained in Russia, has issued a statement.

“It is inconceivable to us that Russian dissidents would be prioritized over US citizens in a prisoner exchange,” they said in a statement shared by the New York Times.

Marc has been unjustly detained for far too long and must be prioritized in any swap negotiations with Russia, regardless of his level of notoriety or celebrity.

Barack Obama has described today’s exchange as a “tremendous diplomatic achievement” and noted the “skill and persistence” of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and US allies.

“We’re grateful that they’ll be back home with their families where they belong,” the former US president added in a post on X.

The UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, has issued a statement welcoming the news of the release.

I strongly welcome the news that Russia has released a number of prisoners today, and am particularly relieved that British nationals Vladimir Kara-Murza and Paul Whelan will soon be reunited with their families.

Mr Kara-Murza is a dedicated opponent of Putin’s regime. He should never have been in prison in the first place: the Russian authorities imprisoned him in life-threatening conditions because he courageously told the truth about the war in Ukraine. I pay tribute to his family’s courage in the face of such hardship and hope to speak to him soon.

Paul Whelan and his family have also experienced an unimaginable ordeal. I look forward to speaking to him as he returns home to his family in the United States after over 5 years in detention.