The United States and Russia have completed their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history, with Moscow releasing Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, security consultant Paul Whelan, who has Irish and British citizenship, and dissidents including Russian-British national Vladimir Kara-Murza, in a multinational deal that set two dozen people free.Mr Gershkovich, Mr Whelan and Alsu Kurmasheva, a journalist with dual US-Russia citizenship, arrived on American soil shortly before midn

The United States and Russia have completed their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history, with Moscow releasing Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, security consultant Paul Whelan, who has Irish and British citizenship, and dissidents including Russian-British national Vladimir Kara-Murza, in a multinational deal that set two dozen people free.Mr Gershkovich, Mr Whelan and Alsu Kurmasheva, a journalist with dual US-Russia citizenship, arrived on American soil shortly before midnight for a joyful reunion with their families.President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were also there to greet them.The trade unfolded despite relations between Washington and Moscow being at their lowest point since the Cold War after Russian President Vladimir Putin's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.Negotiators in backchannel talks at one point explored an exchange involving Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, but after his death in February ultimately stitched together a