Return of Gershkovich, Whelan is great news. Why did it take so long?

In an incredible twist and after months of negotiation, the Russian government has agreed to free Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and other Americans wrongfully detained in Vladimir Putin’s police state.
While all of us as Americans celebrate that our fellow citizens have regained freedom, their lengthy imprisonments under the Russian regime have been a horrible injustice.
Gershkovich, 32, was arrested in March 2023 while on a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg. A Russian court found him guilty of espionage, and in July, sentenced him to 16 years in prison. The Wall Street Journal and the U.S. government consistently maintained that the charges of espionage were preposterous and that Gershkovich was innocent.
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Whelan, 54, who also holds United Kingdom, Canadian and Irish citizenships, was arrested on espionage charges in Moscow in 2018. In May 2020, the Russian government sentenced him to 16 years in a labor camp in Mordovia. Whelan told CNN in June 2021 that he was laboring in a “sweatshop.”
In a December interview with the BBC, Whelan said he felt “abandoned” by the United States after prisoner swaps in 2022 for WNBA star Brittney Griner and another American, Trevor Reed. He also criticized President Joe Biden, saying the commander in chief had failed him by relying on “passive political niceties.”
“I’m told everyone is doing all they can and that my release is a ‘top priority.’ But after five years, that sounds like my New Year’s resolutions – quickly set aside and soon forgotten,” Whelan told The Detroit News in December.
Still, the Biden administration deserves credit for finally securing the Americans’ return. And while their release took far too long, it’s Putin’s dictatorial Russian government that obviously is most at fault for imprisoning innocent Americans along with citizens of other countries.
The release of Gershkovich, Whelan and the others demands celebration, but it also should prompt us to think about why the Russian government has been so emboldened that it repeatedly arrests Americans on false charges.
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There is something wrong with American diplomacy and power when Russia can wrongfully arrest and sentence U.S. citizens to hard labor with impunity. It is a grave injustice that keeps happening and one that the United States appears powerless to stop.
Whelan was in prison more than 2,000 days. Gershkovich was in Russian detention for 491 days. This is unacceptable and unconscionable. These are Americans. We must do more to fight for them.
What good is the might of the United States if we do not use it for the benefit of our own citizens?
Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with USA TODAY. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.