By Kenneth Tiven
US Presidential candidate Kamala Harris received a campaign gift from President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin with the release from Russia of wrongfully imprisoned Americans.
A clearly delighted President Joe Biden and Harris welcomed home three Americans in the latest chapter of ‘Hostage Diplomacy,’ a nasty game played by Putin. This was the largest swap of Westerners detained and imprisoned in Russia since the end of the Cold War nearly 50 years ago.
Biden said, “This deal would not have been made possible without our allies, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, and Turkey. They stood with us, and they made bold and brave decisions. They released Russian prisoners who were justifiably being held in their countries. So, for anyone who questions whether allies matter, they do. They matter.”
Eight Russians returned home with President Putin getting the prisoner he wanted most, hitman Vadim Krasikov, released by Germany. In addition, the US released three Russians, Slovenia released two, and Norway and Poland each released one.
The US got three Americans and a lot more out of Russia; the longest held at five years was former Marine Paul Whelan, along with two journalists, Evan Gershkovich (16 months) of the Wall Street Journal and Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor for Radio Free Europe in Prague.
She is a dual citizen visiting relatives when arrested. Their families met them in an emotional scene on their return to American soil at Andrews Air Base near Washington. Also in the swap were four German citizens wrongfully detained as political bargaining chips, along with a fifth who was released from Belarus.
More fascinating was what appeared to be a clearing out of anti-Putin political prisoners, the deal included British-Russian activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who had openly opposed the invasion of Ukraine, along with seven Russian citizens imprisoned for their opposition. The one missing was Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader, who died in February in a Russian prison. His death briefly derailed the negotiations that had been going on since shortly after Biden took office in 2021.
Biden took note, “It says a lot about the United States that we work relentlessly to free Americans who are unjustly held around the world. It also says a lot about us that this deal includes the release of Russian political prisoners. They stood up for democracy and human rights. Their own leaders threw them in prison.”
This is a diplomatic triumph for Biden as he retires under pressure that he is too old to be president for another four-year term. The previous swap of basketball star Brittany Geiner for a Russian arms dealer was a one-for-one. This is the biggest swap since trades began in 1962 when a Russian spy was swapped for an American U-2 surveillance plane pilot shot down over Russia. This time, for whatever reasons, President Putin is clearing out opposition leaders in return for the value of bringing home assassins, spies, and criminals.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said that Germany was willing to release Vadim Krasikov for Navalny but Navalny’s death threatened the deal. Vice President Kamala Harris, meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Munich Security Conference in February, cleared the room to brief him on the hostage deal. Biden then called Scholz and asked him to continue to move forward. “For you, I will do this,” Scholz said. The president told Sullivan to get it done. In April, President Biden formally requested Scholz to make the complicated swap. When a reporter asked Biden what Scholz had demanded in return, Biden answered: “Nothing.”
Former president Donald Trump often cites his special relationship with Putin. Trump had insisted at rallies and interviews that Putin would free Gershkovich after Trump was reelected. Putin’s motivations and timing are unclear. A clearly miffed Trump’s undiplomatic response to the deal was to say Biden got fleeced and that, “Our ‘negotiators’ are always an embarrassment to us!” A reporter asked Biden about Trump’s claim he could gotten the hostages out without giving anything in exchange.
“Why didn’t he do it when he was president?” Biden answered.
Sullivan said, ”Honestly, guys, I can just say this was vintage Joe Biden.”
This deal was in the works while media and politcians in both parties were suggesting Biden was unfit for another term. A senior administration official pointed out that on July 20, an hour before announcing his withdrawal from a campaign, Biden “was on the phone with his Slovenian counterpart, urging them to make the final arrangements and to get this deal over the finish line”.
The administration says no one should think that there has been a breakthrough, “you will not see a policy change from President Biden or the administration when it comes to standing up to Putin’s aggression as a result of this,” an official said. Putin’s decision to go ahead with the swap was a blow to Trump and suggests that issues in Russia itself are not going well. The war to conquer Ukraine has bogged down the Soviet military with enormous losses in men and war material. Concurrently, international sanctions are making life more difficult for Russian families and businesses.
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