President Vladimir Putin gave Russian citizens freed in a historic prisoner swap with Western countries a hero’s welcome on Thursday as they disembarked from a plane in Moscow, promising them state rewards and talks about their future.
As part of the largest East-West prisoner swap since the end of the Cold War, eight people were extradited to Russia, including hitman Vadim Krasikov, convicted by a German court of killing a former Chechen fighter in a Berlin park, and two men convicted in the United States for cybercrimes, Vladislav Klyushin and Roman Seleznyov.
Among those rescued by Moscow were the Russian family, the Durtsevs, and their two children, who had been convicted by a Slovenian court of posing as Argentinians to spy on EU and NATO countries.
The couple are considered “illegal immigrants” – undercover agents trained to pose as foreigners, and have been living abroad for years under false identities.
In return, American journalist Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, among others, were released from Moscow in a complex deal negotiated in secret for more than a year.
Putin, a former KGB officer and former head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), welcomed the eight returnees at Moscow airport, hugging them, shaking their hands and presenting some of them with flowers as they disembarked from the plane onto a red carpet surrounded by a Kremlin honour guard.
The first to disembark was Krasikov, a hitman in a baseball cap and tracksuit, and Putin gave him a hug.
Inside the airport building, President Putin spoke to the returnees with clearly satisfied eyes.
“First of all, I would like to congratulate you on your return to your homeland. Secondly, I would like to address those of you who are directly connected with your military service. I would like to thank you for your loyalty to your oath and your duty to a country that has never forgotten you even for a moment.
“You will all be receiving your state awards. I’ll see you again soon and we’ll talk about your future.”
The delegation was also welcomed at the airport by FSB Domestic Intelligence Director Alexander Bortnikov, SVR Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergey Naryshkin, and Defense Minister Andrei Belousov.
Earlier, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev commented on the prisoner swap on Thursday, saying traitors to the motherland should rot in prison, but that it would be more beneficial for Moscow to bring its citizens home.
“And now the traitors are desperately using new names and actively disguising themselves under the witness protection program,” Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel.
