‘This is momma’: tears in Oval Office as families speak to prisoners freed in swap

Tears of joy flowed in the Oval Office the moment families of prisoners including Evan Gershkovich, freed by Russia in the biggest such swap since the Cold War, first spoke by phone to their loved ones, a White House video showed on Thursday.

"This is momma. Do you hear me? It's your mom," Gershkovich's mother tells her son, a Wall Street Journal reporter, in the emotional two-minute video of the virtual reunion  posted by President Joe Biden's social media account on X.

"We want to say how overwhelmed we are," Biden tells the released detainees while the families stand around the presidential Resolute Desk.

"You've been wrongfully detained for a long time, and we are glad you are home."

Russia freed Gershkovich, ex-US Marine Paul Whelan and others on Thursday as part of the elaborate multi-country exchange the White House said involved 24 prisoners, including Russian hitman Vadim Krasikov, released by Germany.

"Every parent, child, spouse and loved one who joined me in the Oval Office today has been praying for this day for a long time," Biden posted about the deal, which was negotiated in secrecy for more than a year.

In the video Biden tells family members the detainees have been released and are heading to board the plane that will take them from Russia to the US.

"No word is strong enough for this. I was sure I was going to die in prison," Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza tells his family as they weep.

"I still think I am sleeping in my prison cell in Omsk instead of hearing your voice."

Reuters