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Americans Freed In Russia Prisoner Swap Land In U.S.; Explosives Smuggled Into Iran Killed Haniyeh. Three Americans Freed in Prisoner Swap Arrive in U.S.; Biden Lauds "Feat of Diplomacy" as Freed Prisoners Come Home. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired August 02, 2024 - 01:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:00:15]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

MICHAEL HOLMES: Hello, and welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. I'm Michael Holmes, appreciate your company. And we do begin with the breaking news that three Americans held prisoner in Russia are now back on U.S. soil.

They were greeted, as you can see there by President Biden and Vice President Harris, when they arrived at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland a short while ago.

It's all part of the biggest exchange of prisoners between the U.S. and Russia since the end of the Cold War, a complex arrangement involving 24 people and seven countries.

Marine veteran Paul Whelan and journalist Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva are among the 16 people set free by Moscow in the deal. President Biden said the deal could never have happened without the strength and cooperation of U.S. allies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, U.S PRSIDENT: Trump is calling this one for other countries, because I asked them to do some things that were against their immediate self-interest. And really very difficult for them to do, particularly Germany and Slovenia. Slovenia came in at the last minute. And I tell you what, the Chancellor was incredibly. He's incredible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: It was Germany's agreement to release convicted assassin Vadim Krasikov that apparently sealed the deal. Russian President Vladimir Putin greeting him and seven others as they returned to Moscow on Thursday.

CNN's Nada Bashir is live this hour in London for us. And Nada, are we getting any more clarity on just how this all came together?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, Michael, we know that this has taken months and months of intense diplomacy, painstaking negotiations. And as you mentioned, they're close dialogue and communication with international partners to try and secure this exchange, this historic exchange.

But we are learning more details around the lead up to this around the details of how this actually came to be. We know of course, that just over a week ago, President Biden gave his address to the American people announcing that he was dropping out of the presidential race. It was during that address that he said that his administration would continue to be working around the clock to secure the release of Americans unjustly detained overseas.

And now we are learning according to one official that it was during that address that Biden at the time knew that a released deal could be imminent. Now just days ahead of that address, President Biden spoke with the Prime Minister of Slovenia, one official describing this call as being the final puzzle piece, so to speak, the call focusing on a Russian prisoner detained held in Slovenia's custody that, of course, is said to have been a crucial part of this exchange agreement, as well as of course, the exchange of Russian prisons held in the custody of Germany.

But again, this was very much a multinational effort with the support of the U.S. as international allies. We've heard from President Biden, of course, expressing his thanks to his international partners. We've heard from the leaders of Turkey who have said they played a mediator role, of course, a crucial part in the actual logistical aspect of the exchange.

But President Biden also spoke with his counterparts. Yesterday, he spoke with the leaders of Germany, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, and Turkey, according to the White House to give a personal thanks to those leaders for their involvement in this historic exchange agreement.

And this is, of course, a huge diplomatic feat in the words of President Joe Biden. And this is something that his administration has been working towards for months for years even. And this is, of course, a significant moment for the families of those Americans that have been released and now back on American soil, but of course, there are others who remain detained.

We heard from the U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan yesterday, he was quite emotional when he gave his statement. He spoke about the long row that this had been for the Biden administration, the close communications that administration had held and continued with those family members involved and affected but also said he hoped that this would lay the groundwork for future agreements as well that the Biden administration will continue to focus on securing those future agreements while in office.

So certainly a significant moment for the Biden administration in a moment that he has taken to highlight the importance the significance of those multinational relations and efforts

HOLMES: Absolutely. Nada Bashir in London. Appreciate it. Thanks so much.

Now, the eight Russians now walking free include a former FSB Colonel convicted of murder as well as several alleged or convicted spies and cyber criminals.

[01:05:07]

And this isn't the first time Vladimir Putin's biggest prize and a prisoner swap is someone with blood on his hands. CNN's Brian Todd reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On a Moscow tarmac exuberant greetings from Vladimir Putin for prisoners returning from abroad. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was asked bluntly today is the Biden administration concerned that Russia gets a convicted murderer back in exchange for Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, and other Americans.

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: These are always incredibly hard decisions.

TODD (voice-over): As part of the swap Germany releases Vadim Krasikov, a 58-year old former high ranking Russian intelligence operative, who committed a brazen act of violence in a prominent Park in Berlin in 2019.

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: He executed someone in broad daylight is caught doing it. And that's why Germany didn't want to let him go.

TODD (voice-over): Krasikov was serving a life sentence for killing a former Chechen fighter in that Berlin Park. Putin made no secret of one and Krasikov back.

In an interview with Tucker Carlson in February, Putin didn't mention Krasikov's name or the Chechens but was glowing about what Krasikov did and insulted his victim.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): That person due to patriotic sentiments, eliminated abandoned in one of the European capitals.

DOZIER: For Putin getting these men back is part of his pledge to his whole security apparatus, the people who are keeping him in power that if you get taken doing a job for me, I will get you out.

TODD (voice-over): Indeed, several Russian spies and hackers are among those released in this prisoner swap. But in the most prominent swaps over the past couple of years, Putin's biggest prizes are men with serious blood on their hands, Krasikov and Viktor Bout nicknamed "The Merchant of Death," a Russian arms dealer traded for American basketball star Brittney Griner in 2022, following Griner's imprisonment on cannabis charges.

DANIELLE GILBERT, EXPERT ON HOSTAGE POLICIY, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY: There was a lot of concern that releasing someone like that was completely disproportionate to release someone like that in exchange for an American basketball player on a trumped up drug charge.

TODD (voice-over) Viktor Bout cut a figure so legendary in the arms trafficking underworld that he's widely acknowledged as the inspiration for Nicolas Cage's character in the movie Lord of War.

NICOLAS CAGE, AMERICAN ACTOR: The arms bizarre was open, guided missiles, unguided missiles, mortars, mines armored personnel carriers, whole tank divisions.

TODD (voice-over): Analysts say there was no weapon Viktor Bout wouldn't sell for the right price and to devastating effect.

DOUGLAS FARAH, CO-AUTHOR, "MERCHANT OF DEATH": If you look at the wars that were directly impacted by his weapons delivery, as you can see, they escalate directly in proportion to the amount of weapons arriving. So I would say certainly, you know, tens of thousands of people suffered if not hundreds of thousands of people because of the weapons he was able to deliver.

TODD: What's in store for Vadim Krasikov back in Russia, analysts say Vladimir Putin will probably make them into a hero and offer him opportunities that many others wouldn't get. The possibilities are almost endless. Last year, Viktor Bout entered Russian politics and won a seat in a regional legislature. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Let's bring in Jill Dougherty, former CNN Moscow bureau chief and current adjunct professor at Georgetown University. Obviously great news for many families, Jill, but how good of a deal is this for Vladimir Putin getting back and assassin, you know, an FSB colonel who killed somebody in Berlin in broad daylight and others as well.

How good is that in return for giving up people who most people believe were wrongly imprisoned in the first place?

JILL DOUGHERTY, ADJUNCT PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Well, in the eyes of Vladimir Putin, it makes a lot of sense. I mean, he wanted Vadim Krasikov, who is the person who has been held. He's a Russian FSB operative, who is an assassin, and he was being held in prison in in Germany.

And so Putin really wanted him back. He had a fixation on getting him back. And he did. And then he got back other people who, you know, I think you could argue kind of are the face of Russian foreign policy right now, you know, people who are trying to break sanctions, people who are carrying out hacking and other financial crimes, et cetera.

So he got people back, and also the people that he let go the Russians that he let go, he considers, I mean, there's no other word for it, you know, traders scum, and let's let them go. Anyway, he has no respect for that.

HOLMES: Trump said earlier this year that Vladimir Putin would release Evan Gershkovich on day one of his presidency if he were reelected. Why would Putin do this deal now as opposed to wait to give Trump an election gift right

I mean, couldn't be the Putin would have thought that the German Chancellor would not help Trump when it came to releasing Krasikov?

[01:10:08]

DOUGHERTY: That is true. You know, the German Chancellor is much more positively just predisposed to Biden than he is to Trump. There's no question. And so that might be part of it. The other part is, you know, this is a very complicated deal with a lot of moving parts. And the timing could be that he's simply, you know, Putin saw the timing coming together, he gets what he wants, this is an opportune time.

And I also would add, you know, when Trump said that that will only happen, essentially, on his watch, right before he becomes president. I can't imagine that Putin likes that particularly, you know, being told, in essence, Trump is saying, you're going to do what I want on my thing. That's probably not very smart.

HOLMES: Yes. Yes. What else can we potentially read into this with regard to Putin? Could it signal you might be open to other negotiations, perhaps on Ukraine, as a diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson suggested earlier, what are you thinking?

DOUGHERTY: You know, I'm not too sure that I would draw that conclusion. I think this is very specific, very transactional, Putin wanted a certain person and others back, he gets rid of troublemakers. Even though, you know, the Americans are useful, the Russians are not as useful to him.

But I don't -- I think Ukraine is kind of a different situation. It is more complicated. And it is -- I'd say it's the context of what is going on. Relations are very, very bad. And a big part of that, of course, is Ukraine. But I don't think it's really a tip for tat, or, you know, a good fit exactly, to say, because he did something on the hostage crisis, that he's going to do something in Ukraine.

HOLMES: You touched on this, and I want to revisit it, speak to the significance of the deal, including, you know, Russian, essentially, prisoners of conscience. I mean, not just Western citizens, as you said, Putin said, you know, good riddance, get them out of here, but the West involving them in this deal Russian prisoners of conscience.

DOUGHERTY: Well, the West wants and because it's really a human rights issue. But Putin doesn't care about that. I think really, Putin saw them, let's say Vladimir Kara-Murza, who is very respected in the West. He's not that well known, but he is definitely respected.

And Ilya Yashin, you know, he's a political person in Russia, also not very well known. But in Russia, they are pretty well known and respected. So, you know, getting rid of them, makes -- in a way makes things easier. I don't think that was as hard for him, as it was to give up the Americans because Americans are really valuable. And he's still, as we know, still holding Americans.

HOLMES: Always good to talk to you, Jill. Thanks so much still dirty there for us.

DOUGHERTY: Sure.

HOLMES: Coming up on the program, I'll report of a clandestine operation and a major security failure. Details on how the assassination of a top Hamas leader may have played out. We'll be right back.

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HOLMES: Israel claiming responsibility for yet another high profile assassination this time saying it did take out one of the reported masterminds of the October 7 terror attacks. The Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif. The Israeli military says he was killed in a strike carried out in southern Gaza last month.

But they weren't sure about that until this week when they received new intelligence on his death, confirming it. CNN asked Hamas to comment but the militant group is yet to do so. These images provided by the Israel Defense Forces show the strike on Khan Younis. It hit a designated humanitarian zone and it killed at least 90 Palestinians.

Footage from the displacement camps showed bodies in the streets. The IDF claimed it was a quote precise targeted strike on a compound where Deif was staying along with another commander whose death was confirmed earlier.

Meanwhile, new information is emerging about the assassination of the political leader of Hamas. A source familiar with the matter saying that Ismail Haniyeh was not killed by a rocket strike as previously reported by Iran and Hamas, but rather a bomb hidden in his room. CNN's Jeremy Diamond with the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Two months before Hamas his political leader Ismail Haniyeh traveled to the Iranian capital a bomb was planted in the guesthouse, where he would eventually be staying. That bomb was planted two months before Ismail Haniyeh arrived in the Iranian capital. And it was only once it was clear that Haniyeh was inside that guesthouse in his bedroom, that that bomb was remotely detonated killing not only Haniyeh but his bodyguard, as well, and marking not only a remarkable clandestine operation, but also a stunning security failure for the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The IRGC which was in charge of securing this guesthouse where Haniyeh was staying.

[01:20:02]

Now, Haniyeh was known to be staying in this guest house previously, which appears to be how this bomb was planted in the right location and ultimately how he was killed.

Now, Israeli officials have neither confirmed nor denied Israel's involvement in this, but I am told by the same source familiar with the matter that Israeli officials briefed U.S. officials only after this assassination actually took place on the details of this operation.

Iran and Hamas of course have made clear that they believe that Israel was behind this assassination. Initially, they said that it was a rocket that took out Hamas' political leader, but this operation speaks to a far more complex, far more clandestine operation and a stunning breach of security for Iranian officials.

In the wake of this, Iran is vowing retaliation. It is not clear what form that retaliation will take or when it will happen. But it is of course, just the latest in a string of events that have put this region increasingly on edge, increasingly on the brink of potentially an all-out regional war. Hezbollah has also vowed to retaliate for the killing of its senior most military commander Fuad Shukr, which happened just hours before this assassination of Ismail Haniyeh.

This string of killings of is what the Israeli prime minister has described as crushing blows to Israel's enemies. It is certainly adding to a picture of strategic -- of tactical successes, at least for the Israeli government, for the Israeli military, but it is also putting this region increasingly on edge and putting Israel and its citizens increasingly in the crosshairs of Iran and its proxies. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Haifa, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Yossi Melman is an Israeli journalist and author of "Every Spy a Prince," he is in Tel Aviv and joins me now. And thanks for doing so.

And so in a matter of days, Israel likely killed Haniyeh, a senior Hezbollah leader, Fuad Shukr in an apartment in Beirut as well as the Hamas military chief, Mohammed Deif, in Gaza. Could that combined embarrassment of losing top acolytes this way, perhaps spark Iran into an even more severe reaction?

YOSSI MELMAN, ISRAELI WRITER AND JOURNALIST: Yes, absolutely. That's what the Iranian leaders are saying that this time, their reaction, their response would be very harsh. And, and they are jointly planning in a joint mission from various prawns from Lebanon -- from Yemen using the Houthis and maybe from Iraq using Pro Shiite militias based in Iraq and controlled by Iran.

So the killing of Haniyeh especially in the heart of Tehran, is a blow to the morale of Iran and Iran would not set -- will remain silent.

HOLMES: Right. MELMAN: Iran is committed response.

HOLMES: Obviously, as a Hamas leader, Haniyeh was seen as a valid target by Israel. But he was also seen by many as one of the more and if it's the right word pragmatic, some said moderate leadership figures within the organization.

What does his killing due to ceasefire and hostage release negotiations, as the Qatari Prime Minister said, how serious can Israel be seen to be on ceasefire negotiations if they've assassinated one of the other side's chief negotiators?

MELMAN: Well, this is a good remark. I mean, I wouldn't call Haniyeh a moderate, all the leaders of Hamas are members of a terrorist organization. And there is division of labor between the political side and the military wing is artificial to a point. It's true that Haniyeh was based in Qatar, and he was the go between the United States, Egypt, Israel, on one hand, negotiating the prisoners and the hostages swapped with the Hamas leadership in in Gaza, but he wasn't moderate it all.

Now, this is a big question whether the policy of elimination and liquidation and assassinations is enhancing the release of the hostages in financing the ceasefire? Well, my argument is that it doesn't, it doesn't help at all. And that's -- by the way were the words of U.S. President Biden earlier -- yesterday.

So this policy of assassination is mostly based on a gut feelings of revenge.

[01:25:06]

And it is not combined with any other strategy.

HOLMES: Yes. When I said pragmatic or moderate, I meant within the context of Hamas. I just want to be clear about that. If it was Israel, who took him out and all I certainly point in that direction, does killing her near suggests Bibi Netanyahu perhaps wants to widen rather than end the war in Gaza, or perhaps provoke war with Iran and drag the U.S. into fighting something many things Netanyahu has long wanted, and some in Israel think might be the aim as well?

MELMAN: Well, there are many in Israel, but above all, is the United States and the Pentagon and the State Department and the White House who believed that indeed, the Israeli military and the Israeli political echelon and above all, Prime Minister Netanyahu want to drag United States to bring in United States into the conflict and to bomb Iran, and to try to destroy Iran's nuclear sites.

Many, many Israelis are critical of the policy conducted by Netanyahu, which always -- every time we reach a point in where there is a good chance for prisoner hostages, and a long term ceasefire, he is setting new conditions or new preconditions. So these events are more recently, the two assassination because the Hamas leader in Gaza death was killed there already a month ago.

HOLMES: Yes.

MELMAN: His death was confirmed. So these events are complicating the situation and I'm breaking the region into a closer to a all-out war with Iran, Hezbollah, and other players. It's a very tight rope dangerous game that all sides are playing.

HOLMES: I read an article you wrote in Haaretz. And, you know, when we're talking about these things that Israel's done with Hezbollah and Hamas leaders, you wrote in Haaretz, quote, The doctrine of targeted killing has become an end in itself. How so?

MELMAN: Because it is not complemented by other measures that would make the ceasefire closer to -- that we will reach, you know, a ceasefire, that it is not complemented by other means. And it's -- in a way it's a reaction of frustrated leadership because they don't have any other tools available to them. And therefore, the targeted healing is, I think, is counterproductive.

I wouldn't object if the military commanders of Hezbollah and Hamas and even their political leaders are being eliminated as long as Israelis will leverage it to enhance the long term ceasefire, and above all, release the hostages. We are now on day 301 since they were taking into captivity and the Israeli government is very stubborn, and is saying we would release him on them but only under our conditions.

HOLMES: Right. Yossi Melman in Tel Aviv. I appreciate you making the time. Thank you so much.

MELMAN: Thank you.

HOLMES: And Israel's military claims that one of Al Jazeera's journalists killed in a strike in Gaza this week had worked for Hamas and quote participated in the October 7 attack on Israel but Al Jazeera pushing back calling that accusation completely false.

The network says Israeli forces had in fact already arrested 27-year old reporter Ismail Al-Ghoul earlier this year, but eventually let him go. Weakening the argument he was a militant. Israel's military did not allege that he held a direct combat role with Hamas. They also didn't address the death of his cameraman in the same strike.

Al Jazeera says both men were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a refugee camp in northern Gaza Wednesday.

Still to come on the program. Three Americans released from Russia and prisons returned to the U.S. as part of a historic exchange. Our breaking news coverage continues when we come back.

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[01:34:05]

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Let's get you up to date on the breaking news this hour.

The major prisoner swap involving 24 people in seven countries. Three Americans released by Russia, now back in the U.S. President Biden and Vice President Harris greeting them a short time ago in an emotional scene at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

Marine veteran Paul Whelan and journalist Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva are among the 16 people set free by Moscow. Mr. Biden dismissing the claim that making deals would encourage Russia to take more prisoners.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't buy this idea that -- you're not going to let -- you can't let these people rot in jail because other people may be captured.

[01:34:48]

BIDEN: We're going to send out all the notifications for all the other countries and all our citizens, our country's not (INAUDIBLE) what to do, what not to do? And they got to pay attention. We've got more work to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Eight Russians were also released, including convicted assassin, Vadim Krasikov, who was in a German prison. Russian president greeting him and others as they returned to Moscow.

Negotiators have been working on the deal in secret for more than a year.

Nigel Gould-Davies is a senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He joins me from London. Appreciate you getting up early.

I wanted to ask you, are you surprised at the breadth of this deal? Just how many people in nations were involved.

NIGEL GOULD-DAVIES, SENIOR FELLOW, INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES: Yes, indeed. It's a remarkable achievement. It's not only the number of people, as you say the diplomatic complexity of it involving in particular, many countries on the western side. And it's quite clear that there's been a protracted process of negotiation and discussions among western partners, in particular, between the United States and Germany, which held Vadim Krasikov, who for Putin was the key to such an agreement.

But I think a larger part of this -- the picture is how West the world -- how well the West has done. Twice as many people have been allowed to leave Russia as had been returned to it. That's a departure from the normal strict parity of a one for one exchange that Russia usually insists on.

HOLMES: Yes. Yes. Very good point. I'm curious whether you think in terms of how this was all unfolding. was the speed of Gershkovich's trial and sentencing IN retrospect, a clue that something was in the works because it was very quick. GOULD-DAVIES: I think that's absolutely right. The speed and secrecy of it.

There are other signs as well. If one looks at the trials of some of the Russian nationals who have been part of this exchange in recent weeks, some of those have been completed very quickly.

And that's I think a further point, just to note. It's not only western citizens in Russian prisons who have been freed. It's a number of Russian nationals who were arrested and given severe punitive, exemplary sentences for their anti-war activity and now the West in effect has secured their release.

They are abroad, they've been pushed into exile, but they are now free to continue their messaging about the, about -- to warn about Putin.

HOLMES: That's actually a very significant point. The prisoners of conscience (ph) that is not normally involved in these sorts of things. Putin said, they're welcome to go, but that's not normally the case.

I wanted to ask you, does all of this raise an unusual question, perhaps. If these people are returned to the West Will they be safe there? We have seen the Russian's take out no shortage of opponents on foreign soil.

GOULD-DAVIES: Yes. Yes. That's a very, very good point. And recall that Sergei Skripal, who was a Russian intelligence officer, a double agent, involved in a swap in the previous decade. He thought he was safe and his daughter lived in the United Kingdom and suffered a near fatal attack with nerve agent Novichok in 2018.

But the question that was raised at that time was, well, who will deal with Russia again, if Russia doesn't keep its side of the bargain. So we cannot assume that all of those that have been released are now free will be safe and they I think will rightly be vigilant about that -- about their future.

HOLMES: Yes. Yes, indeed. There is form there.

When we look back, there was a lot of criticism of the arms dealer Viktor Boot, being swapped for the American basketballer Brittney Griner. People thought too much was given.

But again, when you look back, do you think that this whole plan goes back to them that that was part of this wider longer-term plan that we saw come to fruition on Thursday. Do you think it could have been that long in the works?

GOULD-DAIVES: Well, that was a much more limited deal, of course, it was a one for one exchange. There were people then that said that the United States should have insisted that Paul Whelan, the marine imprisoned in Russia, should have been part of that agreement as well.

[01:39:54] GOULD-DAVIES: He has now been released as a consequence of the latest -- latest exchange. I think it goes back at least to sort of the aftermath of the arrest of Alexei Navalny, the most prominent opposition leader who was arrested on return to Russia having suffered a horrific, again, Novichok nerve agent poisoning, be allowed to leave the country, had returned.

He sadly, tragically was killed in prison early this year. That appeared to have set the thing back. And what we've seen since then is a kind of a recovery or a renewal of the diplomacy around exchange in spite of his death.

And again, I think that the West has done very well in extracting as it were a high price in this bargain.

The final point I think which is really interesting about it, is what it tells us about Putin. So the West was patient. It conducted a protracted negotiation. It was firm and ultimately, again, it has produced an exchange that is very favorable overall to Russia, and that -- what that tells us is that Putin will make concessions if his negotiating partners are firm.

And I think there are larger sort of longer-term lessons to draw on that in dealing with Russia.

HOLMES: That's a very good point. Very good point.

We're out of time. I wish we had more. Nigel Gould-Davies in London, appreciate you getting up early. Thank you so much.

GOULD DAVIES. Thank you.

HOLMES: All right..

Time for a break here on the program. We'll have more on the prisoner swap in just a moment, including what's next for the three U.S. citizens now back on American soil. Do stay with us. We'll be right back.

[01:41:53]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Emotional scenes at Joint Base Andrews a short while ago as three U.S. citizens arrived back on American soil and were reunited with families following the historic prisoner exchange between the U.S., Russia and five other countries.

Marine veteran Paul Whelan, who spent nearly six years in Russian prisons, was the first off the plane late on Thursday night. He saluted before shaking hands with U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and then hugged his sister.

Next was journalist Evan Gershkovich. He embraced the president and vice president before hugging his family, you see him there with his sister there and then he told his "Wall Street Journal colleagues, "I'm home".

And finally, Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva ran to hug her two children and her husband.

All three returnees are heading to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas for examinations and treatment as they get used to being back home.

Now, the prisoner swap has been described as the largest since the Cold War. U.S. President Joe Biden, calling a feat of diplomacy with negotiations playing out behind the scenes for more than a year.

Matthew Chance explains what it took to get all seven countries on board and make the swap happen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: This was their journey to freedom. Evan Gershkovich sentenced to 16 years for espionage peering at the outside world from a prison box before being walked to a waiting plane.

He's followed by Paul Whelan, the former marine, also designated wrongfully detained by the U.S., and who spent the past six years in a Russian prison.

They and 14 others are now free at last. One U.S. official tells CNN, the CIA played a critical role, negotiating the multinational deal.

BIDEN: All here. Happy birthday to you.

CHANCE: For President Biden. This was what the unprecedented swap was all about reuniting families like that of Alsu Kurmasheva, a U.S. - Russian journalist, whose daughter is turning 13.

BIDEN: She's Alsu's daughter. Now she gets celebrate with her mom.

CHANCE: And the family of Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza, sentenced to 25 years in Russia for treason now also a free man, a major coup for President Biden and his influence with U.S. allies like Slovenia, Norway, and Germany, who agreed to surrender convicted criminals from Russia as part of the deal.

This is just one of the Russians given up. Vadim Krasikov is an assassin convicted of a ruthless killing in the German capital. His employers the FSB, the old KGB, confirmed eight Russian citizens in total were handed back including convicted spies and cybercriminals serving lengthy prison sentences in the U.S. and elsewhere.

"Their return was made possible thanks to the systematic and targeted work of competent government agencies," an FSB statement reads.

[01:49:50]

CHANCE: Back in the U.S. there's overwhelming relief innocent prisoners are finally free. But the Kremlin is celebrating too. Putin personally welcoming swapped Russians back to Moscow. His strategy of trading bargaining chips, has again yielded results.

Matthew Chance, CNN -- London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem joins us now.

Good to see you, Juliette.

I mean we've seen these joyous scenes at the airport. The return of these Americans. I wanted to ask you about the operation though. Were you surprised at the size of this exchange or all that had happened now? What do you think Putin's calculus was in terms of agreeing to it? And the timing of it.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: You know, the size of it was incredible. I think part of it was you don't really see prisoner swaps like this outside of wartime. You'll see lots and lots of dozens of people being exchanged.

This was, this was very individualized. Each person had a reason to be swapped. I mean, in other words, it wasn't just a mass of people. It was this Putin wanted this, we wanted that, another country wanted that. So that was unique of it and then you could just figure that any of the parties that were involved with the negotiations, some of them allies, some of them enemies if they had walked away, every piece would have unraveled.

So that's just a sophisticated diplomatic strategy that, that is sort of unprecedented in modern times.

As for Putin's strategy right now, or what -- look, he's transactional. I mean, you everyone thinks, well, did he do it having to do with Biden or Trump or calculating something about the American elections. He got what he wanted at this moment, and he got a good deal

I still think the United States got a great deal. He got a very good deal as well. Let's say everyone's happy and everyone is not perfectly happy is probably the sign of a good negotiation. And so he took it at this time for I think political domestic purposes as well.

HOLMES: Right. And to the point you just mentioned there about getting a good deal. There's already a debate about the, I don't know, if the moral angle is the right way to phrase it but doing a deal with the devil argument.

Did grabbing foreigners as a bargaining chip pay off for Putin strategically? Or is this deal just the reality of the geo-political world in which we live now.

KAYYEM: It's just -- it's just the reality at this sort of moralistic, I'm going to live in some, you know, fantasy world in which everyone behaves by rules or we're not going to play in the mud if we're the United States.

It's ridiculous. We have negotiated for -- with terrorists before to get our citizens. We have negotiated with enemies like Putin to get our citizens.

Of course, you can take a step back and say well, what's his motivation now, we know that he -- he detains people unlawfully unlike some of the people that he got out of prison, in particular in Germany, he got out of prison who were, formally convicted under the rule of law.

So these are unequal swaps, but you know, we, as we live in the world that we have now not the world that we wish existed.

The motivation may be for Putin to continue to do this. On the other hand the United States has been more aggressive than I've ever heard them about travel for American safety, for Americans in Russia.

If you are not there for a reason including journalism, but that might -- that might not even protect you, just don't go now. And that's going to hurt Russia as well.

HOLMES: Well, that was my very next question. What else would you say about that? Do you agree with warnings to -- by the U.S. to Americans not to travel to Russia at the moment.

KAYYEM: Yes. Right now, I wouldn't. I mean, there'll be no reason to unless there's a, you know, maybe a diplomatic or State Department reason. The United States is being very clear that they will, Putin will make up allegations. He will put you through phony courts and that the United States did really well today with the president who had strong ties with leaders who were willing to do him a favor.

This couldn't have been easy for but the German chancellor. This -- these are, these are really bad people that they gave up to satisfy, I think the United States' strong desire.

And that only gets done through the kind of, I think relationships that Biden was able to forge over the course of his many, many decades in politics.

I will say this, you know, this idea that this is sort of another president could have done it, I think is belied by reality.

[01:54:50]

KAYYEM: We've never seen anything like this before. And you get a sense of the phone calls that Biden himself had been making including ones he was making minutes before he decided he wasn't going to run again.

HOLMES: Yes. Yes. Always great to get your analysis. Juliette Kayyem, thanks so much.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

HOLMES: And thank you for watching. I'm Michael Holmes.

My friend and colleague, Kim Brunhuber will have more on the historic prisoner exchange in just a few minutes.

Stick around for that.

[01:55:18]

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