Nation of belgium, and the person you see in the center of your screen is u. S. Olympian brittany griner. Brittany griner helped lead the united states to victory 8774 against belgium. And the reason that was possible, the reason that brittany griner was able to represent the u. S. In these olympic games and help the united states claim victory in women s basketball was because of a real feat of diplomacy by president joe biden. It was february of 2022 when ms. Griner was detained in russia on trumpedup charges related to cannabis products that were found in her luggage. By august griner had been sentenced to nine years in a russian penal colony. But just a few months later in december of that year president biden announced that he had negotiated a historic prisoner swap, securing brittany griner s safe release. And that is why brittney griner was able to play today for team usa in the olympics. The biden white house worked to use the momentum from that deal to continue negotiations fo
An extraordinary effort and a historic day. There is nothing that matters more to me than protecting americans at home and abroad. Three american citizens wrongfully imprisoned in russia. Some for years. Now finally on a plane and heading home. Today, excuse me. Today was a very good day. Tonight, the massive effort by the biden administration. We never stopped fighting their release. The role of the vice president in the negotiations. I m a russian politician. Russia is my country and my home and this is where i have to be. The release of kara more than two years since i last spoke to him arrested by vladimir putin. When all in starts right now. Cook, i m alexander in for chris hayes. And they include evan gershkovich, the 32yearold reporter, the son of russian immigrants who fled the soviet union in 1979. Gershkovich moved to russia to write for the moscow times before joining the wall street journal in 2022. Nearly a year and a half ago, he was arrested while trying to interview fac
Journalist evan gershkovitch and former marine paul whelan. We ll work through it as we get it stepbystep. We don t know where these gentlemen are and wait for more information on that. Dana: so much to come. It could be a very good day. I m dana perino and this is america s newsroom. Evan gershkovitch spent 16 months behind bars. Paul whelan was arrested in 2018. Bill: what we don t know is what putin gets. We are waiting for more information on that. Britteny griner the highprofile case when she was taken prisoner and resulted in the swap of victor boots. A russian arms dealer and they busted him in southeast asia and considered a major prize. He went back to russia when griner came back home here. Dana: there was criticism at the time because nobody could really understand why britteny griner would be the only one released at the time. Gershkovitch wasn t in custody at that point but paul whelan was. His family has been stalwart and recognize them if you saw them. They ve been on ou
Good morning. 11:00 a. M. Eastern. 8:00 a. M. Pacific. I m jose diazbalart. We begin with major breaking news. Sources tell nbc news a multination prisoner swap including the united states, russia and other countries is currently under way. Sources say the americans being released can be expected to be in u. S. Custody soon. The kremlin spokesperson said he had no comment on the reports of the exchange. The turkish government is confirming the exchange is going to take place at the ankara airport in turkey. We do not know if what we re showing you right now on your screen, which is the live shot from one of our cameras at ankara international airport are the planes that are involved, but from what we can see in these live pictures, at ankara international airport, there are those two planes that you see on the screen. Again, no information on what these planes are, what they re doing there. But one of them, as you can see, has on its tail the russian flag. This is live pictures from an
Americans being detain instead russia are now in u. S. Custody, following the biggest prisoner exchange since the cold war. Among them, evan gershkovich arrested in march of 2023 and just sentenced last month to 16 years in a penal colony on espionage charges. Also freed former marine, paul whelan he s been jailed since 2018 on what the u. S. Says is baseless charges. And alsu kurmasheva, accused of spreading false information about the russian army, and russian activist, vladimir karamurza. And we got this video from russian state media, claim to go show the freed prisoners in transit right now, and this photo from the white house of them on the plane showing the sheer relief just painted on their faces there. What happens next? we have the latest on where all four are right now in their journey home. Plus we have reporting on the effort it took from several nations to get this deal off the ground, and what vladimir putin just got in return. Let s get started. Joining us now, nbc news