Freed Evan Gershkovich, Others Arrive in U-S

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stepped back onto U.S. soil to a hero’s welcome from President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris late Thursday, capping a lengthy wrongful detainment and conviction in Russia that culminated in the most complex prisoner swap between Western allies and Russia since the Cold War.

Gershkovich, who was jailed in 2023 and convicted in July of espionage charges that he, the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently denied, emerged from a government aircraft that landed at a suburban Washington military base at 11:37 p.m. in a small silver Bombardier jet with a red stripe and the window blinds drawn. 

Gershkovich, the second to walk off the jet, held his arms wide to hug Harris as Biden spoke with the family of another released prisoner, the former Marine Paul Whelan, who walked off first. Whelan saluted Biden and said, “How you doing, Sir?’’

Arriving on a muggy summer night, Gershkovich and the others landed at Joint Base Andrews after a roughly 10-hour flight they boarded in Ankara, Turkey, following the massive prisoner swap earlier Thursday.

In addition to the president, vice president, other officials and throngs of media, Gershkovich was greeted by his immediate family: his father, Mikhail; his mother, Ella Milman; his sister, Danielle, and his brother-in-law, Anthony Huczek. Gershkovich first greeted his mother, hugging her and lifting her off the ground. He was also greeted by some of his colleagues, including the Journal’s editor in chief, Emma Tucker, who took the reins of the Journal just weeks before Gershkovich’s detention. “Thank you for everything, Emma, that was a lot,” Gershkovich said, smiling. “I gave you a surprise in your first few weeks.”