White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Thursday that “nobody is happy” about one of the figures that emerged in the recent prisoner swap for the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.
“Look, nobody’s happy, and we’re not doing backflips here, because Mr. [Vadim] “Krasikov is now a free man,” Kirby told Fox News host Bret Baier on “Special Report.” “That’s how negotiations work.”
Krasikov, one of several Russians released in Thursday’s swap, had been imprisoned in Germany following a 2019 murder conviction. From the Associated Press.
“The president was prepared to make that tough decision to get everyone out, not just Americans out, and that required tough decisions from our allies and partners, including the Treasury Secretary,” he said. [Olaf] Germany’s Scholz actually had to fire Krasikov.”
Mr Gershkovich and Mr Wehlan were released along with Ars Kurmasheva, Vladimir Kara-Murza, five Germans and seven Russians.
“Today, we celebrate the return of Paul, Evan, Ars and Vladimir and rejoice with their families,” President Biden said in a statement. “We remember all those who remain unjustly detained or held hostage around the world, and we reiterate our pledge to their families: We see you, we are with you, and we will never stop working to bring your loved ones home where they belong.”
In a letter on Thursday“We thank President Biden and his administration for their tenacity and determination in bringing Evan home rather than sending him to a Russian labor camp for a crime he didn’t commit,” the paper’s editor-in-chief, Emma Tucker, said in a statement.
