The White House said the US had negotiated the swap with Russia, Germany and three other countries. The deal, negotiated in secrecy for more than a year, involved 26 people, including 16 moving from Russia to the West and eight prisoners, along with two children, in the other direction.
Biden earlier said he owed a particular debt of gratitude to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who made the politically difficult choice to release Vadim Krasikov, a Russian serving a life sentence for the murder of an exiled dissident in Berlin.
Today is a powerful example of why it's vital to have friends in this world, Biden said at the White House earlier, flanked by the relatives of the freed prisoners. Harris welcomed their release after what she said was an appalling perversion of justice.
The West secured the release of 16 people who had been jailed in Russia, including five Germans and seven Russian political prisoners in a deal that Turkey helped mediate. Thursday's deal was the biggest in post-Soviet history, and required significant concessions from other countries.
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