Berlin/Washington/Moscow, 2 August 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Two high-profile US citizens were back on home soil after being freed from Russian imprisonment in a major prisoner exchange involving 26 detainees and several countries.

The exchange, announced on Thursday by Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and later confirmed by US President Joe Biden, included Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US marine Paul Whelan.

The prisoner swap took place at the airport in the Turkish capital Ankara, MIT said.

It also included German national Rico K, who had been sentenced to death in Belarus for alleged involvement in a bomb attack and then pardoned. Among the Russians released from Russian detainment were prominent Kremlin critics such as Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin.

Among those released to Russia was a convicted murderer who killed a Chechen dissident in broad daylight in a park in central Berlin. He was released from German custody as part of the deal.

Gershkovich, Whelan and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva were welcomed by Biden and US Vice President Kamala Harris as they disembarked a plane which landed at Joint Base Andrews near Washington just after 11:30 pm on Thursday (0330 GMT Friday).

A White House video feed showed Whelan getting off the aircraft first after the nine-hour flight from Ankara, followed by Gershkovich and Kurmasheva.

"This is an extraordinary day," Harris said shortly after their arrival. "I am thankful for our president and what he has done over his entire career but in particular as it relates to these families and these individuals, what he has been able to do to bring the allies together on many issues, but in particular, this one."

"This is just an extraordinary testament to the importance of having a president who understands the power of diplomacy."

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin personally welcomed the released Russians at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport, while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed 13 released prisoners at Cologne/Bonn Airport.

Scholz said that many of the prisoners had not expected their release and were still filled with emotion at the sudden freedom they were experiencing after landing in Germany.

"Many feared for their health and even for their lives," Scholz said.

Gershkovich and Whelan had been imprisoned in Russia. The reporter was recently sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges, following his detention last year on a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg. Whelan had been in Russian custody since 2018.

In Berlin, German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit defended the release of convicted Russian murderer, Vadim K, who was serving a life sentence for killing an exiled Chechen in broad daylight in a central Berlin park in 2019 - on the orders of Russian state authorities.

"The release was only possible because Russian citizens with intelligence backgrounds who were imprisoned in Europe were deported and transferred to Russia," Hebestreit told reporters.

Putin had previously said during an interview with US talk show host Tucker Carlson that he was open to a prisoner exchange involving Vadim K.

Germany's Ministry of Justice approved his release as part of the major east-west prisoner swap.

In return for the transfer of Vadim K and another nine individuals previously detained in the US, Norway, Poland and Slovenia, as well as 16 Western citizens and Russian opposition figures were freed.

The MIT described the operation in Ankara as the "most extensive prisoner exchange between the United States, Russia and Germany in recent years." It includes numerous Kremlin critics.

Signs of an imminent exchange increased in recent days

Recently, there had been growing reports of numerous political prisoners in Russia being moved to unknown locations, including the former heads of the regional staff for Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who died in February in Russian prison camp north of the Arctic Circle.

Observers in Moscow interpreted Gershkovich's swift sentencing in July as a potential sign that an agreement on a prisoner exchange might soon be reached.

Generally, under Russian legal practice, a verdict must be in place for an exchange to take place.

Photo: EPA