WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich, ex-Marine Whelan released in U.S., Russia prisoner swap

• Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan were released by Russia as part of a major, multi-nation swap of two dozen prisoners.
• The Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva and British-Russian activist Vladimir Kara-Murza also were freed as part of the swap, along with five German citizens and seven Russian citizens. All of those people had been in prison in Russia.
• President Joe Biden will meet with families of the Americans released in the historic swap.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan were released Thursday by Russia as part of a major, multi-nation swap of two dozen prisoners.

The Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva and British-Russian activist Vladimir Kara-Murza also were freed as part of the swap.

"All four have been imprisoned unjustly in Russia," President Joe Biden said in a televised address from the White House, where he was flanked by their family members.

Released with them were five German citizens and seven Russian citizens. All of those people, who were flown to Turkey as part of the negotiated exchange, had been in prison in Russia on charges that their home countries had strongly disputed the validity of.

Eight Russians, including the spy and convicted hitman Vadim Krasikov, are being returned to Russia from the United States, Slovenia, Norway, Poland and Germany.

The release of Krasikov, who had been held in Germany for murdering a former Chechen militant in Berlin in 2019, was key to getting Russia to agree to the swap, according to a Biden administration official.

Gershkovich, Whelan and Kurmasheva are U.S. citizens, while Kara-Murza is a permanent American resident.

"The deal that secured their