so 20 full presence, less detention in russia, germany, bella, roost, and the united states amongst others. and they landed in the package capital after various checks on health and identities and went all sides were satisfied that not affordable christmas got on board new plains and flew off to freedom. so what did it cost to do the steel? i'm feel gaily value and this is the day. the deal with this possible performance and friendship, french portable countries shall try to pay for the amount of an easy decision to the pool. a convicted murderer who had only served a few years in prison today was very good. and we're going to build on it drawing inspiration and cont, continued courage from it for all of those who were held hostage to mr. c. one is

twice as skilled as the 2nd one is by now i'm very excited to hear that he's being returned. thankfully we returned it's wonderful. also on the day donald trump questions, his opponents and racial identity and com a lot higher is condemns. the question is, every time to divisive politics, i didn't know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black and now she wants to be known as black. so i don't know, is she indian or is she black? she has the divisiveness and the disrespect and let me just say the american people deserve better to the american people deserve better. welcome to the day, well, bringing them home. the triumphant was of us president joe biden today after

successfully pulling off a massive prisoner swap with russia. this was a complex deal that involved secret negotiations in several countries, including germany, each of who admitted that the exchange required some tough decisions of this voltage released by russia's f. s p security agency. so it's something with a free presence being escorted onto waiting planes that include a high profile american di trying these, that white. honda says there was no direct engagement with russian president vladimir per se. so what do we know about the size and scale of this deal? well, this was the largest business well in the post soviet era, and it took place into the us, russia, and others exchange 24 prisoners and 2 children. 10 people are being moved to russia for 16 west, and the russian nationals, perhaps the most well known of them is wall street journal report to evan cosca,

which is detained in russian on spying charges. in march of last year, german national rico k who was sentenced to death in bella ruse on terrorism charges is also among those freed, honestly is that the chrisy cough, a russian who was convicted of the 2019 murder of a former chechen militant in button there was speaking about the exchange us president joe biden paid particular tribute to jem anita off, shots are particularly on a great sense of gratitude to the chest, the manager and making them a it required me to get some significant concessions. germany say, originally concluded they could not do because a person question, but everybody stepped up post adoption of the stepped of turkey stepped out and it

matters that relationships really does. won't have a chance at all. i've sold said his government. i found it very difficult to arrive at the decision to release by deem crossteck off. you know, it was not an easy decision to report a convicted murderer who had only served a few years in prison after he was sentenced to a life to. we had to way out enforcing that sentence with the dangers posed to the freedom. and in some cases the lives of those on justly and present in russia. and also the political prisoners helps the. and that's why i wrote the cation to protect german citizens, was important to us. and also, i was told to direct to you to watch the united states in west. well, let's pick up that difficult decision we've done, you know, gail, but serious assistant professor of political science at northwestern university. a welcome to d. w. for the prostate call. they russian assassin released from the gym and

present it, killed a chat to him by then under orders from moscow. german germany absolutely did not want to last and go back to russia. so how do you think present bite and change chancellor shots? his mind to well, i think this is just an example of how extremely difficult these decisions are, how complicated and frankly unfair. these deals are. but at the end of the day, leaders in the united states and in germany decided that it was worth the king that painful difficult decisions to secure the freedom of prisoners who would be held unjustly in russia. in terms of what divided administration did i. i'm under the impression that the us government was working at the highest levels behind the scenes for months, if not years, to put this kind of deal together. and at both calling on the strong,

allied to the united states, particularly calling on germany and the strength of that alliance, but also making sure that there were prisoners released as part of this deal. it would be important to germany as well. and so that's getting back at german citizens and making sure that russian dissidents were released as part of this deal . what do we make of, of, of the numbers isn't wrong to, to, to look at the numbers in this, i'm 10 people sent back to, to russia for 16, west and, and russian nationals coming this way. so when i look at these deals, i don't actually equate, you know, the numbers and think of that as a way to calculate whether or not i think is a good deal or a fair deal or, or even an interesting deal. and the leaders who are engaged in this diplomacy are trying to do whatever it is they can to get the best deal they can to bring their

citizens home it's, it's really the art of the possible. and so the, the thing that really stands out to me about the numbers of today's deal is just the sheer size of, of this deal. in recent years, the united states and russia have engaged in one for one, the prisoners wow. and such as the 24 people being exchanged as part of this deal from 7 different countries. and that's a huge amount of important nation and shows that sometimes to get a deal done, you have to put more on the table. and i'm also reading that, but besides whether they're in russia and by the rules for people who knew how to read them, that something was going to happen. there were stories in recent days at that suggested that this might be coming coming down the pike in the next couple of days. so 1st, there were people who were watching the travel trajectory of airplanes that had

been used in hostage deals and prisoners flocks before i'm having unusual flight patterns. and so they were watching the flight patterns of these different planes. a lawyer see represented some of these prisoners and disciplines and that they were unable to reach their claim in recent days, which could portend, you know, really ghastly news or could be because those prisoners were being relocated in anticipation of the deal. so there were small leaks and stories in a couple of days leading up to today that this might have been coming in possible. and what was turkey's role in this so tricky, it has served as a really valuable and very interesting 3rd party mediator in the actual swap itself . so when these present or changes take place that they have to take place is a somewhat neutral 3rd party territory, where airplanes from both countries can safely land and control comfortable

allowing the prisoners to cross the term so that they have these kind of simultaneous exchanges of the prisoners from one country to another. so turkey is one of the rare countries that have as working relations with both the united states and with russia and is able to serve as the staging ground for that swap. control control, thank you for talking us through with access so clearly danielle gilbert from northwestern university. thank you for having me with joshua ja for isaac john list and friend of evan gaskin, rich from his that time in moscow. welcome to the w. how did you find out the news of his release? like a lot of friends and colleagues, we were frantically following the news not just today, but for the past couple days. and murmurs of a possible exchange really started to take hold, both in russian media,

western media, germany. i'm here in berlin, american media. so everyone was scrolling frantically, myself included checking social media. so looking for confirmation of the, of the trade checking flank maps, the various planes we thought might be included. and it wasn't until we saw these pictures that you're showing. now, of evan and others actually walking the tarmac in turkey. that we all collectively re, is it a deep sign and relief? the moment when we have been waiting for a 190 days for the duration of evans detention finally happens. and when someone is, is effectively taken as a political, a prisoner. i'm governments always say that trying to sort things out in the quietly in the background and often they don't like it when friends and family and the national newspapers stopped shouting at about as it were you getting those sorts of assurances from washington?

yes, 2nd hand i, i certainly wasn't involved in any direct way the negotiations where the buying administration wasn't including me or, or others in those negotiations. i think for good reason given them difficulty and sensitivity of the deal that we saw. and finally, a merge, but, but evans parents and it wasn't me for any, or certainly kept in the loop. and uh, the wall street journal was lobbying quite heavily, frequently, ultimately, effectively, for athens were reason for the by the ministration and others to work tirelessly on evans, but hassle. there certainly was the feeling that there was a huge have paradis both in government and outside of government, that was keeping evans case a priority. the responsibility of friends and colleagues, other journalists like myself, as we saw it, was to keep attention on evan, to have the public, remember evidence to have that hopefully create a kind of pressure and incentive calculus for various governments to,

to work on athens k. so, so we really thought of ourselves as using the channels and means that we know best from our own work that is, you know, working the media going on shows like this one and keeping evans name out in the press. so his case was forgotten and that put some, some healthy pressure on those and government to keep working the case. okay, so you've been, i'm in contact with his uh, with his family and have you had any contact with happened since he was arrested last year? i yes, one remarkable feature of his imprisonment, despite being held in this maximum security prison in moscow, the 4th of a known as the kind of house prison of the f s. b, the russian security agency. that is a successor to the k g b. i look forward to about a very difficult like a lot of psychologically place to be held high sense and feeling of isolation. none the less, there are letters that go look forward to that myself. other friends,

supporters of evans could write him letters. i haven't could write hand written replies, you get a scan of a hand written letter, send back to you, but this works and in this way we were able, i was able to keep up with that and tell him a bit about my life. what was happening with me here a bit about his life, his routine, how he passed his days, what was on his mind. and of course, he wasn't able to say everything. we couldn't discuss the case. there was lots that wasn't getting those letters. but at the same time, there actually was a remarkable amount in those letters and, and i feel like i and other friends and supporters. i haven't got a sense for what he was go or even as we couldn't really imagine it. but nonetheless, we had evans words to help us picture it. okay, so he and others. i fortunately i find for late coming, how do you think once he's over there? so i don't know. obviously i don't know what the terms of the deal. uh,

but i wonder what your thoughts are on working in russia from this point as well. evans arrest certainly changed the calculator overnight. a year and a half ago when he was arrested about what the risk calculus was or what the risk perceived re or real on us for western journalists working in russia and, and i don't think there's going back to the way things were rough for um, that's both because of the reality in russia, the nature of the war time censorship laws that are on the books in russia and the president of them is never going away. and i think that's for the near future as long as power. that's a new environment for reporting from inside russian. good. talking to you. thank so much for joining us at joshua ja janice and friend of ethan gaskin, which was your us presidential race with donald trump. slightest attempt to line to blow on his democratic rifle. combat harris

appears to have back fired. the republican presidential candidate was appearing at the annual conference of the association of black journalist in chicago. i went on the attack about harris's identity on qualifications. i've known her a long time and directly not directly very much. and she was always of indian heritage, and she was only promoting indian heritage. i didn't know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black. and now she wants to be known as black. so i don't know, is she indian or she black? she is always the black irish by respect either one, but she obviously doesn't because she was indian all the way. and then all of a sudden she made it turn into when she became a black, just to be clear, is there somebody should look into that too. and this is kind of a high risk, responded. donald trump spoke at the annual meeting of the national association of black turtle list. and it was the same old show that

the under the last b a is an associate professor at emory university's department of political science research specialism include african american politics and political participation. joins us from washington. welcome back to d, w. and let's start with the truthful otherwise of the former president statement. she was always of india and heritage, and she was only promoting indian heritage have true. is that no, it's not true at all. i'll come with harris, this is both to make an american indian american, she's always been proud of both heritages. and if we look at her, her personal background where she grew up, where she went to college and some of her extra curricular activities, it clearly indicates to essentially identifies with an as proud of her black heritage always. so the sounds like an odd line to deliver, to

a room full of black generally what, what do you think the former president was thinking? or i'm still trying to push that out myself. and there are some people who are arguing that his audience was not the black people who are in the room with them. but let's assume that they were, i think what he was trying to suggest is that black voters loyalties for complet harris out of the sense of racial solidarity may be misplaced because the feeling may not be mutual. i mean, i think the problem is there is a lot about her identity as a howard graduate. as a member of applicant, the offices were incorporated that wouldn't suggest that she's very comfortable expressing her african and her black heritage. so it was really, really weird for him to say that and it seems as though president trump didn't actually would think through the comment or the mirror. and then also didn't think about how it would be perceived in that particular context. to make that type of

a false and outline to statements who approve of african americans even in the concepts of a really intense and aggressive interchange with black reporters would be perceived as actually being especially offensive. okay, so you're the only thing that misplaced that these comments then what, what possum, the new trump campaign that target think of coming on. how is this was just a trump speaking off the cuff? no, i don't. i think he, i think he was doing more than speaking off the car. um, we know that in the, in the past week and a half the trumpet campaign has been trying to figure out how to change their strategy to go. busy after a new opponent and when it comes to issues of race and gender, both donald trump gene events and the story gets, have been loving a lot of different attack lines basically to try to figure out what's going to land . it'd be most effective. i think that this was just another evidence of the trump campaign, throwing something on the wall to see what sticks this one just like do land in

a very spectacular way. and it was, it didn't land in such a spectacular way that it could have been foreseen as being a bad strategic move to make. right? so just to consider some of the lines that i have been throwing up the wall. i mean, there has been a lot of smears that have been levied against vice president harris in the last week. so whether it's j events, doubling down on the child was cat lady comments. so they were comments he made a long time ago where he had implicated vice president harris, but he hasn't apologized for them since they've become a campaign issue in, in the past week. and he still wants to imply that democrats are, are anti family by using sometimes the lack of child bearing as a, of, as evidence of sort of a lack of the 4 children and children's issues and family issues. we could talk about the republicans who, you know, were deriding vice president harris as the candidate such to the point that there are other republicans. we've actually tried to get them to stop saying that implying that she somehow own qualified for office. we did have other things that

president trump said in that interview at an a b j where he described her as dumb as a rock where he brought up the fact that she failed the bar exam. the 1st time she took it over 30 years ago. she clearly has passed it, that's because the practice law, you know, for decades after that. and then you could talk about some of the rumors or the murmurings about her prior romantic relationship with former san francisco mayor willie brown and the implications that she slipped for weight to the top. we could talk about ged advanced, right? you know, suggesting okay, bottom, the bottom, a lot of stuff or bed so i could check us with that as a lot of stuff. i mean, like as a lot of was a that said the vice presidents hasn't been shy about its own. come pay me will play a clip from one of her rallies and then come back to you or the find somebody or something just the plain weird the

world. the yo reconsider to meet me on the debate and say the because as the saying good, you got something to say the glasby from emory university tell us about the highways compounds attack lines. and so it adds the idea that a, a, trump and vans are seeing weird things seems to be something that they think is resonating with them or credit motors that only seem vice president harris use that line. we've seen some of her sarah, good,

especially some of the leading candidates for vice president, also pick up on the year trip. and i think they're also trying to sort of play into the idea that this a, you know, in keeping with the wrong everything at the wall to see what 6 paradigms that are grown things out there that are contradictory. what you can be a better child was cat lady, and be a welfare queen, or does bell at the same time. they don't go together. and you know, just the idea that she is willing to challenge donald trump, to a debate and actually use the idea of say things to my face. kind of remind some people of, of what school yard bites the i used to look like back in the day, but she is a standing up to and she's making clear that she is responding to these attacks and as direct away as possible. or how big a backlash has that be? again, stay the phone with the president's comments, questioning. com, a harris's erase and, and how they, real or just politically modes evaluated outrage as well. i mean,

i think it's gonna remains to be seen how viral these comments were, but you know, i'll use a personal example. my mother heard about this and called me, she probably never really thought that much about any b j. though i have been to an a b j conferences, and i know she's never watched one of their interviews before. so the idea that there might be a certain variety to this, i think, is what makes this dangerous. there's some argue that, you know, trump did this and was, you know, intentionally provocative because he wanted to put himself back at the top of the new cycle. but i think it becomes a question of whether or not this was a bridge too far. and whether different audiences are going to see this and react negatively to what they saw is basically going to be determined by anything that he said yesterday. but i think the question is, do waiver and voters do those a small sliver of, of undecided voters in the united states see this and then determine that he's to mean or doesn't have the temperament to be re elected president of the united states. i think that that's going to be a real question. we should see that kind of come out in some survey data in the

next couple of weeks. but i will say is that especially an african american communities where there may have been some wavering when joe biden was the nominee . this is the type of thing that could reinforce support for vice president harris . and it's the type of evidence that i'm sure people are going to be using at back yard barbecues and pull parties, and conversations and parties over the next couple of months as exhibit a of why you can't believe that donald trump, it turned the page on race relations and plans on being kind, blur kinder and more gentle. and all that car into is that car into poland on the, to a would be presidents with by and after the race and memory of faith, assassination attempts against donald trump fading. yeah. and so we can look at some new pulling that's come out in the last few days. and so what we see is that the race is a statistical tie even more so than it was under joe biden. so uh, you know, uh donald trump was leading uh, uh, joe biden,

by larger margins sometimes outside of the statistical margin of error. which meant that he would be statistically ahead of the most recent pulls that i have seen suggest that com la harris is more clearly when in this is a school margin of error and would only be, you know, a couple of points behind donald trump into what that suggest is that this is anybody's race. okay, thank you for talking us through that clear as ever dr. under glasby from emory university. thank so much. thank you to and that's the day more of course on social media at cdw and use latest headlines on dw, don't coma on the d. w. a good. the

cold war, or humanitarian catastrophe. on the border between poland and bella roost, the number of illegal border crossings by refugees is increasing and the situation is only getting worse. depaula's border security. these are organized efforts, but 8 agencies are horrified by the situation. the focus on your next on d. w, signer, here in germany will be the 1st of its kind of yours at the continent,

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all stuff. i want my son to become a doctor to in the canal. it's time to to and then when generation class watch now dw documentary, the hello and welcome to this week's edition of focus on europe is great to have you with us. border protection to prevent illegal immigration has been a huge challenge and the european union in recent years. the situation is currently coming to a head on the border between but loose and poland, poland, and e. u. member states as seen a dramatic rise of illegal crossings in recent months. belarus has done little to

discourage migrants from attempting to enter the neighboring states.