Americans, Russian assassin freed in biggest post-Cold War prisoner swap

US journalist Evan Gershkovich and ex-US Marine Paul Whelan returned to the United States on Thursday, hours after being freed from Russian detention in the biggest prisoner exchange between the two countries since the Cold War.

The White House said it negotiated the trade with Russia, Germany and three other countries. The deal, worked on in secrecy for more than a year, involved 24 prisoners — 16 moving from Russia to the West and eight sent back to Russia from the West.

They included Vadim Krasikov, convicted of murdering an exiled dissident in Berlin, the German government said.

US President Joe Biden hailed the deal as "a feat of diplomacy and friendship" and praised Washington's allies for their "bold and brave decisions."

Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, buoyed by the occasion, greeted freed Americans Gershkovich, Whelan and journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, as well as Russian dissident and US resident Vladimir Kara-Murza, as they arrived at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, shortly before midnight.

The president took off his lapel pin and gave it to Whelan as he got off the Bombardier Global 7500 aircraft.

The deal gives the Biden-Harris administration a marquee diplomatic success with the presidential campaign, pitting Harris against Republican former President Donald Trump, barely three months away.

Harris, poised to be the Democratic nominee after Biden dropped out of the race last month, praised his leadership for bringing together the complex prisoner swap, telling reporters on the tarmac it was a testament to American leadership.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met the prisoners returning to Russia on their arrival in Moscow, saying they would be given state awards.

The exchange also represents a victory for Putin, who had indicated he wanted Krasikov back. Their homeland "had not forgotten you for a moment," he told the returnees to Russia.

Krasikov is a colonel in the Russian FSB security service who was serving a life sentence for murdering an exiled Chechen-Georgian dissident in a Berlin park.