Three Americans, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, and journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, have returned to the United States after being released as part of the largest prisoner swap with Russia since the Cold War. According to the White House, the U.S. negotiated this exchange with Russia, Germany, and three other countries. The agreement, which had remained secret for over a year, involved 26 individuals, 16 of whom were transferred from Russia to the West, while eight prisoners and two children were sent in the opposite direction.

The Americans’ flight landed late Thursday evening at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where they were met with cheers from family and friends who came to welcome them, as well as by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Biden expressed his gratitude to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who made the politically challenging decision to release Vadim Krasikov, a Russian serving a life sentence for the murder of an exiled dissident in Berlin. “Today is a powerful example of why it’s important to have friends in this world,” said Biden earlier in the day, flanked by the relatives of the freed prisoners. Harris described their release as an “odious distortion of justice.”

The Western world secured the release of 16 individuals who had been imprisoned in Russia, including five Germans and seven Russian political prisoners, in an agreement facilitated by Turkey. Thursday’s deal is the largest in post-Soviet history and required significant concessions from other countries. The last prisoner exchange between Washington and Moscow occurred in December 2022 when American basketball player Brittney Griner returned to the U.S. after 10 months in captivity in Russia in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

In Russia, President Vladimir Putin was present at the Moscow airport to welcome the eight citizens home, greeting Krasikov with a handshake as he disembarked from the plane. Outside of Russia, the group had been convicted of espionage, hacking, and murder, but Putin stated that they would be honored with state awards.