Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former marine Paul Whelan and Russian American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva landed in the U.S. late Thursday after being freed from Russian custody in a historic prisoner exchange — the largest between Russia and Western nations since the Cold War era. The three were welcomed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland by President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and their family members, who rushed to embrace them as they stepped out of the plane. Biden spoke earlier in the day surrounded by the released prisoners’ relatives.

President Joe Biden: “Three American citizens, one American green card holder. All four have been imprisoned unjustly in Russia — Paul for nearly six years, Vladimir since 2022, Evan since March of 2023, and Alsu since October of 2023. Russian authorities arrested them, convicted them in show trials and sentenced them to long prison terms with absolutely no legitimate reason whatsoever. None.”

Russian British dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, who has a U.S. green card, was also released in the swap but was not on the U.S-bound flight. In total, 16 political prisoners were freed, including human rights defenders and journalists. Five of those released were German. In return, eight Russians were released from prisons in the U.S., Germany, Norway, Slovenia and Poland. Among them is Vadim Krasikov, a convicted Russian assassin who was in German custody after the 2019 killing of a Chechen dissident in Berlin. We’ll have more on this story later in the broadcast.