The White House said the US had negotiated the swap with Russia, Germany and three other countries. The deal, negotiated in secrecy for more than a year, involved 26 people, including 16 moving from Russia to the West and eight prisoners, along with two children, in the other direction.
The US citizens’ plane landed late on Thursday at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, where they were greeted by cheers from family and friends who had gathered for their arrival, as well as US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Whelan told reporters as he left the plane that he was ecstatic to have been freed after five years, seven months and five days.
The former US Marine, who holds US, British, Irish and Canadian citizenship, said his Irish background was what made him tenacious and that every day he sang the national anthem of his four countries to keep his spirits up.
He thanked the negotiators who worked for his release over the years and cheered on American prisoners who are still being held in Russian jails.