It was an intricate prisoner swap months in the making – so long that, back before his death in February, Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny figured into the elaborate scheme.
It came to fruition late Thursday night, at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, a rare happy ending that few saw coming. The emotional homecoming was the result of intricate, secret negotiations which the White House called a “feat of diplomacy.” In all, 16 political prisoners were released from detention in Russia and Belarus, in exchange for eight Russians held in five other countries.
Among the Americans who were “unjustly imprisoned” in Russia and returning home were Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was already advocating for other detainees in Russia: “Basically everybody I sat with is a political prisoner,” he said Thursday. “And nobody knows them publicly.”
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As many as seven wrongfully-detained Americans were left behind, among them teacher Marc Fogel, sentenced to 14 years for carrying medical marijuana.
But the family of Alsu Kurmasheva, a reporter with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, got to embrace her on U.S. soil.
John Sullivan, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia and a CBS News contributor, said, “It was important to celebrate the return of our fellow Americans. But also having been involved in these matters for as long as I have been, I know the serious side of this, and the fact that Russia will continue to do this.”
Asked if this prisoner exchange gives up something greater, Sullivan replied, “Absolutely. It just reinforces the value of the Russian government detaining – wrongfully – Americans in Russia to use for trades like this.”
President Joe Biden hailed the multinational cooperation. Germany may have made the biggest sacrifice, freeing Vadim Krasikov, a convicted assassin working for the Russian state. He was given a hero’s welcome by the Russian president. “Putin can say, with some accuracy, ‘We take care of our own. If I send you to Berlin to murder someone, I won’t leave you stuck there. I’ll get you home,'” said Sullivan.
As diplomats worked in secret, it was often up to family, friends and colleagues to keep the names and stories of those being held very much in the public eye.
Paul Whelan’s family pushed for his freedom for more than five years. “Yeah, I’m glad I’m home!” Whelan laughed upon his return. “I’m never going back there again!”
The Wall Street Journal kept Evan Gershkovich’s story in the headlines, as “Sunday Morning” reported earlier this year.
And we traveled to Prague in January to find the outpouring of support to free Alsu Kurmasheva, led by her husband, Pavel Butorin. “I need to keep it together … I don’t want emotion to get involved,” he said.
Early Thursday, they were among the families summoned to the White House for that surprise announcement.
Kurmasheva and her fellow freed Americans are now decompressing at a San Antonio military hospital.
Doane asked former Ambassador Sullivan, “How do you stop someone like Putin from making a business out of this – capturing, throwing in jail Americans to get what he wants down the road?”
“Well, it’s extremely difficult,” he replied. “My concern now is that other countries are gonna see what the Russians have been able to do. So, this is becoming not just a Russian problem; it’s a global problem.”
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Story produced by Michelle Kessel. Editor: George Pozderec.
