A prisoner swap involving seven countries freed the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, two other Americans and several Russian opposition figures. It was the most far-reaching exchange between Russia and the West in decades.

In return, Western governments released eight people, including Vadim Krasikov, who had been sentenced to life in prison in Germany for assassinating a Chechen former fighter in Berlin. The exchange took place today at the international airport in Ankara, Turkey’s capital, and it involved seven planes ferrying 24 prisoners who were from the U.S., Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Russia.

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are planning to greet the released Americans tonight at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. “Their brutal ordeal is over, and they’re free,” said Biden, who celebrated the deal.

The exchange was also a triumph of sorts for Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, who had long sought Krasikov’s release. Russia legally permits people they accuse of extremism to be killed abroad, my colleague Neil MacFarquhar said. “So, in the eyes of the Kremlin, Krasikov’s assassination in Berlin of a Chechen separatist leader whom Russia labeled a terrorist was legitimate,” he said.

Gershkovich was held in a Russian prison for 16 months on espionage charges that the U.S. considered politically motivated. Russia also released Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, and Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian American editor. Here’s what we know about everyone involved in the swap.