President Putin Welcomes Russian Citizens That Have Been Freed, Kremlin: It's a Respect

JAKARTA - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin felt it was important to directly welcome his country's citizens who returned to the country after being freed in a prisoner swap with the West.

President Putin along with a number of officials, such as Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, head of the FSB domestic intelligence service Alexander Bortnikov and head of the SVR foreign intelligence service Sergei Naryshkin welcomed the arrival of the freed Russian citizens when the plane carrying them arrived at Vnukovo Airport.

Peskov said that President Putin felt it was important to meet directly with the returnees at the airport after getting off the plane.

"It is a tribute to the people who served their country and who after going through very difficult trials, and thanks to the hard work of many people, have been able to return to their homeland," he said, as reported by Reuters on August 2.

When asked whether the prisoner swap was a sign that Russia might be ready to reach a compromise agreement on Ukraine, Peskov said the situation was different and efforts to reach a possible diplomatic solution to what Russia calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine were carried out on "different principles."

Previously, President Putin thanked them for their loyalty to their oath and state duty while personally welcoming the Russian citizens released in the prisoner swap, promising them state honors.

Eight people were released and returned to Russia, part of the biggest East-West prisoner swap since the end of the Cold War, including Vadim Krasikov, a hitman convicted by a German court of killing a former Chechen militant in a Berlin park. There were also two men convicted of cybercrimes in the United States, Vladislav Klyushin and Roman Seleznyov.

In return, American journalist Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan were among those freed by Moscow in a complex deal negotiated in secret for more than a year.

The first to disembark, wearing a baseball cap and tracksuit top, was Krasikov, the hitman. He was then hugged by President Putin.

"First of all, I would like to congratulate all of you on your return to the Motherland. Now I would like to address those of you who have a direct connection with military service. I would like to thank you for your loyalty to your oath and your duty to the Motherland, which has not forgotten you for a second," he said.

"You will all be awarded state awards. I will see you again, we will discuss your future," he added.

The Kremlin said Friday that Vadim Krasikov, a hitman returned by Germany in the biggest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War, was an employee of Russia's FSB security service and had served in the Alpha Group, the FSB's special forces unit.

Krasikov was convicted by a German court of killing a former Chechen militant in a Berlin park in 2019 and President Vladimir Putin hugged him after he stepped off a plane in Moscow on Thursday night.

Among those freed were the Dultsev family, including their two children, who were convicted by a court in Slovenia of posing as Argentine citizens to spy on the European Union and NATO member state.

The couple were alleged to be “illegal immigrants” – undercover agents trained to impersonate foreigners who spend years living abroad under assumed identities.

Peskov confirmed on Friday that the couple were “illegal immigrants”.

“The children of ‘illegal’ intelligence agents who flew yesterday only found out that they were Russians after the plane took off (for Moscow) from Ankara,” Peskov told reporters.

"Before, they did not know that they were Russians and that they had something to do with our country. And you probably saw when the children came down the plane's steps, they did not speak Russian and Putin greeted them in Spanish. He said Buenos Nochas," Peskov explained.

"The children asked their parents yesterday who met them (in Moscow). They did not even know who Putin was. That's how 'illegal immigrants' work. They make such sacrifices because of their dedication to their work," he said.

Peskov said the prisoner swap, which pro-Kremlin analysts saw as a victory for Moscow, had been negotiated by the FSB and the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).