The United States and Russia completed their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history on Thursday, with Moscow releasing journalist Evan Gershkovich and fellow American Paul Whelan, along with dissidents including Vladimir Kara-Murza, in a multinational deal that set two dozen people free.
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00:00Sound of jet engine.
00:06Background noise.
00:17Clapping and cheering.
00:25Background noise.
00:45Oh yeah, President Biden gave me his pin.
00:49Can you tell us about it?
00:51That's an American flag.
00:53He wore it on his lapel.
00:55So we were chatting and he took it off and gave it to me.
00:59It's a keepsake.
01:00Could you describe the moment of coming back?
01:03Oh, it was nice. It was nice.
01:06You know, it didn't feel real until we were flying over England.
01:09I'm a British citizen, Irish citizen, Canadian, and American.
01:12So as we came over England and I looked down, you know, that's when it became real.
01:17We flew over Ireland, then Canada, into America, and then I knew I was home.
01:22So getting off the plane and seeing the President, the Vice President, that was nice.
01:26It was a good homecoming.
01:28So looking forward to seeing my family down here
01:30and just recuperating from five years, seven months, and five days
01:34of just absolute nonsense by the Russian government.
01:37What was it like to hug your sister?
01:39Oh, it was very nice, yeah.
01:40I hadn't seen her in a couple years.
01:42So yeah, it's nice to reconnect with family like that.