While the families of three prisoners celebrate, one family is disappointed their loved one was not included.
Three Americans have been released in the biggest prisoner exchange with Russia since the Cold War era.
Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich were among the released, along with Radio Free Europe journalist Alsu Kurmasheva. A photo of the three of them in Turkey was released Thursday.
Two weeks ago, 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter Gershkovich appeared in a glass courtroom cage with his head shaved on charges that the United States government says are false.
Whelan, a 54-year-old former Marine, had been in prison since 2018 when he was convicted on bogus charges of recruiting Russians to spy for the United States.
"Their brutal ordeal is over and they're free. Moments ago, the families and I were able to speak with them on the telephone from the Oval Office," Biden said in an announcement.
The complex deal involved 26 prisoners from seven countries.
"The complexity of what the administration has pulled off today, you just can't understate it, all these countries, all these prisoners involved and executed it flawlessly," Jonathan Franks of the Bring Our Families Home Campaign tells Inside Edition.
Amid the celebrations, one family is disappointed their loved one is not included.
American ballerina Ksenia Karelina, charged with treason for donating $51.60 to a Ukrainian charity, remains in jail.
"I am very happy for the families that will be reunited with their loved ones," Karelina's boyfriend, Chris Van Heerden, said Thursday.
The couple was on a vacation to Turkey in March last year when she opted for a side trip to Russia to visit family and never came home.
"The fight continues and we will not give up," Van Heerden said.
