Thank you for having me thanks so much to end. Of course to all of you. Ac360 starts now good evening from washington, about three hours from now, a us government jet, will touch down at joint base andrews capping the largest prisoner exchange with russia since the cold war and one of the most intricate of its kind ever 16 russian detainees released, including three americans. Wall street journal reporter evan gershkovich, former marine paul whelan, russian american journalist alsu kurmasheva, also dissident and us permanent resident, vladimir karamurza, they were flown from russia to ankara, turkey, where the exchange took place, like the deal itself. That exchange involved several different planes from the u. S. Germany, poland, slovenia, norway, and russia here is gershkovich should have photo the white house put out with kurmasheva and whelan speaking with president biden. And here they are on the plane. That s now just a short way out from andrew s speaking about what went into fr
Also kurmasheva, and vladimir karamurza are expected to land on us soil. This evening. Actually karamurza will be heading to germany, but the other three will be arriving at joint and base andrews. We want to share with you this photo posted by president joe biden on social media showing the released prisoners, families with him in the oval office. You see two young women, they re huddled over a phone extensively speaking with a loved one over the speakerphone there, the families then joined the president as he addressed the american people confirmed coming the elaborate and historic deal that he reached with multiple allies, at least seven nations involved in making this day happen and this is the first photo of the now freed gershkovich and whelan holding up an american flag shared on social media shortly before they boarded their flight home from turkey, which is where the swap actually happened standing between them, we should point out is russian american journalist alsu kurmashev
Those gathered here. A relief to friends and colleagues all across the country club and winning the state for a long time. What d you say when they answer the phone? speak i said welcome almost home. Sandra: president biden speaking whimsical from the white house after the u. S. And russia secured a historic prisoner swap deal in one of the largest and the cold war in in just moments we are next expecting an update from national security advisor jake sullivan and the details of the swap when he joins the white house briefing we are watching for that to begin right now. Hello and welcome i am center in new york what a day. John: what a day indeed i am john roberts in washington this is america reports that white house briefing was moved up we expect in the next few minutes and a credibly powerful front page of the wall street journal website has the general reports its own air and cursive has been released after being held for 16 long months in russia. Now have a brandnew photo from the
Massive multinational prisoner exchange with russia. The largest since the cold war. A senior administration official saying the deal was in the works for two years but was finalized in the last two weeks. We are waiting to hear from president biden at any moment from the state dining room in the white house. The turkish government announcing it took place in the capital. You can see some of the planes. In total, the u. S. Negotiated the release of 16 people from russia, including five germans and seven russian citizens who were political prisoners. Vladimir putin is getting back eight russians including someone that he has long sought, a convicted hitman. He has been in a berlin prison. He killed was convicted of killing two chechens in daylight in berlin some years ago. We cannot stress enough the level of diplomacy that this took involving four of our allies. After griner s exchange for a russian arms dealer in december of 2022, the u. S. Was left with no high level russian prisoner
Evan Gershkovich, who has been held in a Moscow prison for more than a year, will stand trial in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg, where he was detained.