Video shows moment US journalist Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan and other freed prisoners board plane leaving Russia – live | Russia

The exiled leader of Belarus’s opposition, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, has said she hopes today’s exchange is a good sign for her own country’s political prisoners.

Belarus holds nearly 1,400 political prisoners, according to human rights observers. In a statement, Tsikhanouskaya said:

We welcome the freeing of political prisoners from Russian jails and the fact that such an exchange of сaptives is an important precedent that helps releases of Belarusians.

The US ambassador to Turkey, Jeff Flake, said a plane carrying the released Americans has taken off en route to the US.

The press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has issued a statement welcoming the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty editor Alsu Kurmasheva as part of the prisoner exchange.

“Evan and Alsu have been apart from their families for far too long,” said CPJ head Jodie Ginsberg, adding that the pair had been detained and sentenced on “spurious charges” that had been “intended to punish them for their journalism and stifle independent reporting”.

Their release is welcome – but it does not change the fact that Russia continues to suppress a free press. Moscow needs to release all jailed journalists and end its campaign of using in absentia arrest warrants and sentences against exiled Russian journalists.

Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, has welcomed the release of the 16 people “unjustly jailed by the Russian regime”.

Posting to Twitter/X, Michel said:

Alsu, Evan, Paul, Vladimir and others, you belong home with your families and loved ones!

The EU “will continue supporting and standing for all those illegally detained in Russia and elsewhere”, he added.

Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, has confirmed that today’s prisoner exchange includes Mikhail Mikushin, a suspected senior Russian military intelligence officer who was arrested in Norway in 2022.

“The exchange has been made possible through extensive international cooperation,” Støre said in a statement, the Associated Press reported.

For the Norwegian authorities, it has been important to contribute in such cooperation with our close allies. A close collaboration across several countries has made this possible.

The White House’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said no money was exchanged as part of today’s exchange.

Sullivan, who celebrated “one of the largest and certainly the most complex exchange in history”, added that no sanctions were loosened to facilitate the deal.

Joe Biden has shared a photo of the newly freed Americans on a plane leaving Russia. The US president wrote:

After enduring unimaginable suffering and uncertainty, the Americans detained in Russia are safe, free, and have begun their journeys back into the arms of their families.

The US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, in his briefing with reporters, described Marc Fogel, an American sentenced to 14 years of hard labour in Russia, as “wrongfully detained”.

This is the first time a US official has categorized Fogel as “wrongfully detained”, CNN reports.

The US state department has not publicly designated Fogel as wrongfully detained but has called for his release.

The family of Marc Fogel, an American teacher detained in Russia, has issued a statement.

“It is inconceivable to us that Russian dissidents would be prioritized over US citizens in a prisoner exchange,” they said in a statement shared by the New York Times.

Marc has been unjustly detained for far too long and must be prioritized in any swap negotiations with Russia, regardless of his level of notoriety or celebrity.

Barack Obama has described today’s exchange as a “tremendous diplomatic achievement” and noted the “skill and persistence” of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and US allies.

“We’re grateful that they’ll be back home with their families where they belong,” the former US president added in a post on X.

The UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, has issued a statement welcoming the news of the release.

I strongly welcome the news that Russia has released a number of prisoners today, and am particularly relieved that British nationals Vladimir Kara-Murza and Paul Whelan will soon be reunited with their families.

Mr Kara-Murza is a dedicated opponent of Putin’s regime. He should never have been in prison in the first place: the Russian authorities imprisoned him in life-threatening conditions because he courageously told the truth about the war in Ukraine. I pay tribute to his family’s courage in the face of such hardship and hope to speak to him soon.

Paul Whelan and his family have also experienced an unimaginable ordeal. I look forward to speaking to him as he returns home to his family in the United States after over 5 years in detention.