What’s going on: Last night, three Americans released as part of a prisoner swap with Russia arrived in the US. President Biden and VP Kamala Harris greeted Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Marine veteran Paul Whelan, and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. Their arrival came hours after the US announced a 24-person prisoner exchange involving six countries — one of the largest since the end of the Cold War. Whelan, Gershkovich, and Kurmasheva had been detained in Russia on espionage charges denounced by the US. As part of the exchange, eight Russian citizens were released, including Vadim Krasikov — a convicted hit man believed to be linked to Russian intelligence.
What it means: The prisoner swap, which took months of back-channel negotiations, marks a diplomatic success for Biden as he enters his last few months in office. While the Biden administration has engaged in numerous prisoner exchanges in recent years, this one is the most complex by far. Even as the deal is hailed as a win around the world, it has opened the president up to criticism. Some experts warn that such swaps might encourage hostile governments to take American citizens as prisoners in order to gain leverage over the US and bring back dangerous actors. The deal also isn’t expected to thaw icy US-Russia relations, or move the needle on ending the war in Ukraine.
