After years of tense negotiations involving multiple countries, the US and Russia finally exchanged two dozen prisoners in the biggest post-soviet era swap.
The deal reached the final stages as Russia released 16 prisoners and West released 8 Russian prisoners in return.
The freed prisoners also included the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich who was sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage.
US Prisoners Lands in US
The US President Joe Biden along with the Vice-President Kamala Harris welcomed the US citizens imprisoned in Russia at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.
Video footage released by the media showed American leaders standing on the tarmac to see Evan Gershkovich, former US marine Paul Whelan and Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva.
The family members of the detained American were also present to welcome their loved ones back to the country.
While swap did provide a sigh of relief to many, three Americans including Travis Leake, Gordon Black, an American soldier and Marc Fogel are still in Russian prison.
