This resulted in the release of the two families after a negotiated settlement Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and three other U.S. residents from Russian captivity on Thursday began working nearly two years ago.
WNBA star Brittney GrinerArrested on drug charges in December 2022, Biden was on his way home to his wife and relatives after the administration brokered a deal with the Russians to exchange him for notorious arms dealer Victor Bout, aka “The Merchant of Death.” “
In the meantime, Paul Whelan family Whelan, a former Marine falsely accused of espionage who had already served two years of a 16-year sentence in a grueling Russian prison, was in agony after learning that his release was not part of the deal.
They soon learned that the Biden administration was trying to swap other Russian prisoners already in U.S. custody for Whelan and other captured Americans, sources told NBC News. “Through many difficult conversations over the past few years, I have told the families of those wrongfully imprisoned. In Russia, so that we don’t forget them,” State Secretary Antony Blinken said on Thursday. “I know that over the years they’ve wondered if our work would ever come to fruition. But I also know that they have never lost hope, and neither have we.”
Blinken was the first official to broach the idea of another possible prisoner swap to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, after Griner’s release.
The effort became more urgent after the Russians arrested Gershkovich in March 2023, according to a senior administration official.
Blinken told Lavrov that Gershkovich is a journalist working for an internationally respected news agency, and “the allegations that he is a spy are outrageous and false. “Your government crossed the border.”
Lavrov insisted that Gershkovich was “caught in the act of crime” and added: “Being a journalist does not give him immunity.”
According to officials, Blinken replied: “You know our country well. You know your system well. We are both adults. You know that despite all our efforts to learn information, we do not use journalists.
Gershkovich and The Wall Street Journal have repeatedly denied that he engaged in espionage.
In the months following that exchange, evidence emerged that serious efforts were underway to get the captured Americans out of Russia.
In February, the Russians released the imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny is dead. A few days later, NBC News reported that a deal was in the works between Navalny, Gershkovich and Whelan.
With Navalny now out of the picture, new talks that would result in the largest prisoner exchange since the Cold War have begun in earnest. It was an effort that required the cooperation of U.S. allies Poland, Slovenia and Norway and their willingness to free four Russians they were holding to help free four American residents.
Previously, the bottleneck was in Berlin.
Moscow was interested in securing the release of murderer Vadim Krasikov, who was serving a life sentence in Germany in 2019 for the murder of former Chechen separatist Zelimkhan Khangoshvili.
However, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz refused to release Krasikov while the United States was negotiating the release of Griner and Whalen. Last year, when the US asked for a second offer to free Whalen, he again said no.
A breakthrough on Berlin came in January this year, when President Joe Biden called Scholz and invited him to the White House to discuss a prisoner exchange with Russia that included Navalny.
After Biden and Scholz met on February 9, Scholz told Biden he was on board.
A White House official said that Vice President Kamala Harris also discussed the prisoner exchange with Scholz and told him that Krasikov was an important component of the prisoner exchange with Russia.
“He moved the ball significantly in that match,” he said.
But after Navalny’s death, the White House had to come up with a plan B, which involved exchanging Krasikov with several German citizens held as political prisoners in Russia.
In April, Biden sent a letter to Scholz detailing the proposal. By June, Germany was on board, and the proposal was presented to the Russians on July 17, who agreed in principle, an administration official said.
It was that day Biden tested positive for Covid In Nevada, and two days ago, Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage.
But even with Russia’s OK, it didn’t come together until about an hour before Biden announced on July 21 that he was ending his bid for re-election. It was then that he called Slovenia’s prime minister to assure him that his country was ready to release the imprisoned Russian.
On Tuesday, national security adviser Jake Sullivan called Whelan’s sister. Elizabeth Whelanand met with Gershkovich’s parents and invited them to come to the White House on Thursday.
The next day, Sullivan extended the same invitation to the family members of American POWs Vladimir Kara-Murza and Alsu Kurmasheva.
Sullivan, a senior administration official, did not say why they were asked to come, but the reason is clear.
After the American prisoners were in US hands, Biden and their comfortable relatives stepped in front of the cameras for a televised address from the White House.
“Now their cruel ordeal is over and they are free” Biden said. “It is an incredible comfort for all the family members gathered here. It is a relief to friends and colleagues across the country who have been praying for this day for a long time.