INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The historic prisoner swap with Russia that freed United States journalist Evan Gershkovich and 15 other Westerners was the fruit of
the families of the three United States citizens and one United States resident to the White House Thursday, just as the release was
taking place in Ankara.After placing an emotional phone call to their loved ones from the Oval Office, they appeared with the president in
front of journalists.Asked what he'd told the newly liberated Americans, Biden answered: "I said, 'Welcome almost home.'"But the smiles hid
free Wall Street Journal reporter Gershkovich, former Marine Paul Whelan, Radio Liberty reporter Alsu Kurmasheva, and United States green
card holder Vladimir Kara-Murza, an outspoken Putin critic.This meant high-level talks with Russia at a time when East-West relations are in
open conflict over the Ukraine war.But it also meant, say United States officials, leaning hard on European allies reluctant to give into
Moscow's demands for getting back a string of Russian citizens imprisoned in the West for serious crimes.In the end, Biden secured the key
November's election.Holed up in his Delaware beach home with Covid, he was about to release his shock statement
statement, he was on the phone with his Slovenian counterpart, urging them to make the final arrangements and to get this deal over the
finish line," a senior United States official told reporters.Slovenia later freed two of the Russians, who had been convicted by a court of
spying.But no one knew for certain that the deal would go through until the very end.In a sign of the strain on negotiators and families
alike, Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan choked up on the White House podium as he welcomed what he called a "good day.""We
held our breath and crossed our fingers until just a couple of hours ago," he said.The process leading to Thursday's news began all the
way back in 2018 when Whelan was arrested and Donald Trump was United States president.Not only was Whelan not freed, but then Gershkovich
was arrested while reporting in Yekaterinburg in March, 2023
Suddenly "these efforts were obviously made more complicated," Sullivan said.In what critics describe as state-sponsored hostage-taking,
Moscow's biggest condition was the release of Vadim Krasikov, a Russian jailed in Germany for brazenly assassinating a former Chechen
rebel commander in Berlin in 2019.Germany balked at giving up a hitman who had carried out such a brazen murder on its soil.To persuade
Berlin, Sullivan said, "required extensive diplomatic engagement with our German counterparts, starting at the top with the president."Then
out of our sails," the senior United States official added.By coincidence, Gershkovich's mother and father were meeting with Sullivan at
the White House that same day
It's "going to be a little bit more of a rocky path," he told them.The breakthrough came during Oval Office talks between German
Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Biden in April."Chancellor Scholz responded to the president saying, 'For you, I will do this,'" added the United
States official.Biden on Thursday thanked Scholz, praising the "bold and brave" decisions by allies.And once the deal was outlined, a
