Summary of the day
Yesterday evening, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris met Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and two other freed American prisoners just hours after Washington and Moscow completed their largest prisoner exchange since the cold war.
Gershkovich spoke about his feelings boarding the bus with the other freed detainees on Thursday and said he was happy to see Russians on board as well.
He also said: “I spent a month in prison in Yekaterinburg where everyone I sat with was a political prisoner. Nobody knows them publicly, they have various political beliefs, they are not all connected with Navalny supporters, who everyone knows about. I would potentially like to see if we could do something about them as well.”
The Kremlin said that Vladimir Putin’s decision to meet released prisoners as they arrived by plane in Russia “was a tribute to people who serve their country and who after very difficult trials, and thanks to the hard work of many people, have been able to return to the Motherland.”
The Kremlin also confirmed that Vadim Krasikov, a hitman returned by Germany as part of yesterday’s major prisoner swap, was an employee of Russia’s FSB security service and had served in Alpha Group, the FSB’s special forces unit.
France urged Moscow to set free French citizen Laurent Vinatier and other people still “arbitrarily” detained.
Amnesty International has welcomed the release of people held in Russia but stressed that “this isn’t the end” and “Russia must free all persons jailed for peaceful dissent.”
For a few seconds, no one even noticed that Evan Gershkovich had taken his first steps back on US soil as a free man.
All eyes were on Paul Whelan, the ex-marine who had spent more than 2,000 days in a Russian prison, mostly in obscurity as his family implored the White House to bring him home. Now Joe Biden was holding him by the elbow, while the vice-president, Kamala Harris, looked on.
But then Harris turned around and spotted Gershkovich, who threw his arms out as if to say: “Here I am!” She mimicked him in mock surprise. Then they hugged. It was a moment.
Soon, Gershkovich came over to his mother, Ella, who had lobbied presidents, chancellors and senior officials to assemble a complex and precarious prisoner swap that would release him from a Russian jail. He lifted her off the ground in a big bear hug. Another picture-perfect moment.
Finally, he strolled over to the more than 100 waiting journalists, ready to greet colleagues and field questions despite the fact he’d been released just that morning. Asked how it was to be free, he barely thought and said: “Not bad.
