Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are set to welcome Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, Alsu Kurmasheva and Vladimir Kara-Murza as they arrive back on US soil following the largest prisoner swap with Russia since the Cold War.
The Biden administration negotiated the complex trade with Russia and several other countries, agreeing to send eight prisoners held in the West back to Russia, including Vadim Krasikov, who had been serving a life sentence for killing a Chechen-Georgian dissident in Berlin.
Speaking earlier in the day from the White House alongside the families of the four, Biden said: “This is an incredible relief for all the family members gathered here. It’s a relief to the friends and colleagues all across the country who have been praying for this day for a long time.”
US Vice President Kamala Harris will return to Washington DC from Houston to welcome the Americans.
Harris, also the Democratic presidential candidate for November elections, was scheduled to return to Washington DC after delivering a eulogy at the Celebration of Life Service for late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee in Houston.