In a high-profile prisoner swap that is being hailed by Biden supporters as a major victory for the administration, Russia released The Wall Street Journal Fourteen others are involved, including reporter Ivan Gershkovitch and former US Marine Paul Whelan.
In a statement to the press, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, “Under President Biden’s leadership, we have secured the release of dozens of Americans who were held hostage or wrongfully detained.” This has set the tone for a show of strength by the Democrats in the coming days as the party prepares for its big event, the Democratic National Convention, on August 19 in Chicago, where President Biden will deliver his speech.
to show victory
The prisoner swap gives him a perfect opportunity to show that his administration has delivered, while Republican candidate Donald Trump has made false claims. Biden is also bolstered by the fact that Trump claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin would release Ivan Gershkovich for him, but not for anyone else (by which he meant President Biden, who was still running for a second term in May when Trump made the claim). In less than three months, he has been proven wrong.
Gershkovic’s release sparked celebrations on social media, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lawyer Eric Columbus drew attention to the comparison between Biden and Trump in a post when he said, “With the release of Ivan Gershkovic, Trump has lost his hostage.”
Trump’s response
However, Trump continued his aggressive tone and asked why the details of the prisoner swap have not been shared yet. He wrote on Truth Social – “How many people do we get compared to them? Are we also giving them cash? Are they giving us cash (please take that question back, as I’m sure the answer is no)? Are we releasing murderers, killers or felons? Just curious because we never get good deals in anything, especially hostage swaps.”
Trump also claimed that he had freed several hostages and had “given nothing – and never given any cash” to another country. He also said that releasing prisoners convicted of serious crimes would be “a bad precedent for the future”.
Those released under the deal by Western governments – the US, Germany, Poland, Norway and Slovenia – include convicted murderer Vadim Krasikov from a German prison. Krasikov was convicted of murdering a Georgian refugee who fought against the Russians in Chechnya. He was killed in 2019 just metres from the office of then German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. Germany has called the announcement to allow the swap for Krasikov “not an easy decision”.
Biden’s ‘man of action’ moment
Some US media quoted senior administration officials as saying that German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz told President Biden at the White House in February that he would only agree to this difficult swap if Biden agreed. In his announcement after the swap was made public, Biden thanked allies, including Turkey, who played a key role in facilitating the release. He said, “This would not have been possible without our allies… Today is a powerful example of why it is important to have friends in this world.”
The largest prisoner swap since the Cold War with Russia will also help Biden leave office having demonstrated his diplomatic prowess, that he is a man who has the skill to bring together US allies and partners in difficult times. Democrats will hope that Biden, who has been under scrutiny for his stance in the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict and the failed Afghan withdrawal, will find the prisoner swap, being called “historic” by the US media, will divert attention from the larger US issue around Russia. And even if Biden drops out of the race to make way for Harris, his diplomatic legacy will not be too heavy a burden for Harris to carry until November.
(Maha Siddiqui is a journalist who has reported extensively on public policy and global affairs.)
Disclaimer: These are the personal views of the author
