Russia frees US reporter in huge prisoner swap with West

WASHINGTON, Aug 02 (AFP/BBC): US journalist Evan Gershkovich and a Russian intelligence colonel jailed for a Berlin murder were among two dozen prisoners freed Thursday in the biggest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War.
The intricate multinational deal that freed the Wall Street Journal reporter and others including former US marine Paul Whelan involved months of secret negotiations, and finally ended with a dramatic exchange on the airport tarmac in Turkey's capital Ankara.
Overjoyed family members appeared at the White House alongside US President Joe Biden, who said they'd been able to phone their freed loved ones from the Oval Office.
"Their brutal ordeal is over," Biden said.
Biden called the leaders of allies Germany, Poland, Slovenia and Norway to thank them for agreeing to free Russian prisoners under the deal, and Turkey for agreeing to host the handover.
"They made bold and brave decisions" to release Russians held for espionage and other crimes in return for the Westerners and Russian dissidents and human rights activists, he said.
In total, 10 Russians-including two minors-were exchanged for 16 Westerners and Russians imprisoned in Russia, said a statement released by the Turkish presidency.
Last month, President Joe Biden said that he had "no higher priority" than gaining the release of Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan from Russian prison.
On Thursday, after months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, arm-twisting and manoeuvring, he accomplished that task.
The multilateral exchange of 24 prisoners with Russia - the largest such swap since the Cold War - represents a significant feather in the cap of a man who abandoned his re-election bid less than two weeks ago.
Like many in the waning days of their White House tenures, Mr Biden has found that foreign policy is one area where a president, even when sidelined from electoral politics, can make a splash.