‘There Is Always Hope’: Freed Journalist Recalls Shock At Release In Russia Prisoner Swap During First Interview

Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva expressed profound relief at her release from her “nightmare” detention in Russia, stating in her first public remarks since being freed that she is “finally being treated as a human being.”

Kurmasheva, who was part of the historic prisoner exchange last week between the United States and Russia, recounted her experience during an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper.

“I’ve been waking up from that nightmare,” she said. “I had a feeling I fell asleep ten months ago, and now I’m getting out of it.”

Kurmasheva’s release after almost a year in detention in Russia, along with fellow Americans, including Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and businessman Paul Whelan, was part of the largest prisoner swap since the Cold War.

The three Americans were reunited with their families in a poignant scene at Andrews Airforce Base in Maryland, where Kurmasheva was embraced by her husband and daughters shortly after greeting President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Kurmasheva had been detained in October 2023, accused of spreading false information about the Russian army—a charge that both her family and her employer, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), staunchly denied.

As she was being transported from her prison cell in Kazan to a Moscow bus for the swap, Kurmasheva admitted, “I didn’t know what was going on.”

Despite recognizing Gershkovich aboard the bus, the two were unable to speak until they were safely on a US plane departing from Ankara in Turkey.

She told the host: “It wasn’t until I saw my family that I believed that I’m free. Or, I would say when I was on a US airplane that I really believed that something like magic I was hoping for months was happening.”

Her husband, Pavel Butorin, echoed this sentiment, describing the relief he felt when they received the call confirming her release: “Many things came as a surprise on that day, even that phone call from the president’s office. It came as a total surprise, and we were so happy to hear Alsu’s voice finally after so many months of no communication with her.”

Reflecting on the ordeal, Kurmasheva and her husband highlighted the plight of other RFE/RL journalists still detained in Russia and Belarus, expressing hope for their eventual release.

Butorin said: “Their nightmare will be over at some point because no family should have to go through this nightmare, especially journalists. Journalism is not a crime. They’ve done nothing wrong, we know that… and we’ll get them out, we’ll get her colleagues out.”

Watch above on CNN.