Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, was “a core member” of negotiations to free four Americans who were wrongfully detained in Russia, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Thursday.
“Both President Biden and Vice President Harris have made the return of unjustly detained … American hostages an absolute priority. And in this particular case, Vice President Harris … was actually able to sit face to face with [German] Chancellor [Olaf] Scholz and talk through the elements of this,” Sullivan said during the White House press briefing after President Joe Biden detailed the prisoner exchange. “She was … a core member of the team that helped make this happen.”
Journalists Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, and Vladimir Kara-Murza, as well as former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, are being released by Russia in one of the largest prisoner swaps since the Cold War. Seven countries, including Russia, the United States, Germany, and Turkey, are involved in the deal that is freeing 26 people. Ten people, including two children, were released to Russia earlier in the day, and 13 prisoners are being sent to Germany.
