It's the Biggest Prisoner Swap Since the Cold War

The deal that resulted in the biggest and most complex prisoner swap since the end of the Cold War took more than a year of secret negotiations, reports Reuters. The most well-known names involved are Americans Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, but 22 other prisoners also were in the mix, and at least six nations were involved in the swap. Coverage:

• 3 US citizens: Russia released 16 people from custody, while US-led Western nations freed eight prisoners. A total of three American citizens were released: Gershkovich, 32, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal who was held more than a year; Whelan, 54, a former US Marine held since 2018; and Alsu Kurmasheva, 47, a Russian-American editor for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty who was arrested last year, per the New York Times. All three were expected to arrive at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland later Thursday.

• Linchpin: The big name freed on the Russian side is Vadim Krasikov, described by the Wall Street Journal as the "linchpin" to the entire deal. Krasikov, seen as a Russian assassin, had been serving a life sentence in Germany after murdering a former Chechen rebel there in 2019.
• Pulitzer winner, others: Others freed include Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Pulitzer-Prize winning columnist and prominent critic of Vladimir Putin. He is a contributor to the Washington Post, which has a running list of bios of all those released.
• Biden: "Their brutal ordeal is over, and they're free," President Biden said in remarks Thursday afternoon. He called the deal to secure the prisoners' freedom a "feat of diplomacy," adding: "Multiple countries helped get this done. ... I personally thank them all again." The Journal reports that Biden made a pivotal call to the prime minister of Slovenia on July 21, only about an hour before he informed the nation he would not seek reelection. Slovenia released two Russian prisoners key to the swap.
• In Ankara: The actual exchange took place in Ankara, Turkey, where planes with prisoners from the US, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, and Russia converged, per the Times.

(More Evan Gershkovich stories.)