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woman: a successful business owner sells his company and restores his father's historic jazz club with his son. a raymond james financial advisor get to know you, your passions, and the way you bring people together. life well planned. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news" s america. s the largest prisoner swap between the west and russia unfolds over six countries as the u.s. prepares to welcome home three citizens. >> now their brutal ordeal is over and their free. anchor: we examine what the

kremlin gets in exchange. new details we are learning about a blast in iran that killed a hamas political leader. ♪ a very warm welcome to you. two dozen prisoners from six countries are returning home in a historic, complex deal between russia and the west. joe biden posted this image of the three american citizens aboard a plane. included in the exchange is a wall street journal reporter, a marine veteran, and a pulitzer prize-winning journalist. speaking at the white house, president biden said this was a feat of diplomacy. this took place in turkey. our russian editor has more on how it unfolded and who was looted. reporter: it was a complex

operation. planes flying in from east and west. the location have been a closely guarded secret. the stage for the largest prisoner swap since the cold war. in involved 26 people being held in seven different countries. among those freed from russian jails were a wall street journal reporter, a former u.s. marine, and another journalist. two prominent kremlin critic's and antiwar campaigners were also released. he was identified by a german court as being linked to the russian state. this ends an ordeal for him that began five years ago. he was convicted of spying and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

it is a chart she has always fiercely denied. speaking from the white house, the president gave his reaction. >> it says a lot about the u.s. that we worked relentlessly to free americans who were unjustly held around the world. it also says a lot about us those this includes the release of russian prisoners. they stood up for democracy and human rights. their leaders put them in prison. we helped secure their release. reporter: america has repeatedly accused mob stucco -- moscow of jailing u.s. citizens to trade them for russians jailed abroad. family and friends of those freed say this is a moment to celebrate. but keep in mind, for the kremlin, it is mission accomplished. it got what it wanted. for moscow, the take away from all of this will be that hostage diplomacy works. that means we are likely to see

more of it. more prisoners being used as bargaining chips. and more prison exchanges like this one. anchor: in a statement, his family said we have waited 491 days for his release. it is hard to say what this feels like. we cannot wait to give him a big hug and see him up close. we are grateful to all of those involved. who helped get him released. with us now is our international editor. these were very complex negotiations. take us through them. reporter: there is an awful lot of detail. a lot of it has come out in the washington post. they have written big accounts of how it all transpired. there were clandestine meetings,

messages written on paper and transported by hand to stop in digital eavesdropping. his mother got very involved. she even at one stage subjected herself and went back to moscow. she is originally from russia. she went back there and allowed herself to be interrogated by russian security services. all sorts of things were going on. the white house has said that in the last hour or so before president biden said he was not going to run again for office, he called the prime minister of slovenia to take care of the final details to get out a couple of russian spies who would be added into the deal as part of the price that putin wanted for those people. anchor: incredibly complex. as you mentioned, many allies worked together. what do you think the message here is in all of this? reporter: the messages that if

you want to do these kind of deals, you have to be pretty pragmatic. the germans were very involved as well because they had them one of their jails putin's biggest prize. the assassin who have been convicted of killing a chechen dissident in germany. if you have moral scruples, you will have to forget about them. about releasing a murderer. it was necessary for them to be pragmatic to do the deal. i think longer term the message is that in our fractured and difficult world, this kind of thing might well happen again because quite frankly it is clear that it is another way of putting pressure on your enemies. to pick up some citizens and say you can have them back at a price. anchor: i think that will change the calculus for how some americans and europeans consider going to russia.

reporter: it might well. people are already concerned about that kind of thing. he was in a steak restaurant. a steakhouse having dinner when he was picked up. anchor: the wall street journal reporter. thank you so much for that. we really appreciate it. now to what russia gets in return. included in the deal is someone who was sentenced to prison by a german court for killing a georgian dissident who had fought against russians. the kremlin also secure the return of seven other russian nationals. they have known or suspected ties to russian intelligence. joining me now is a former u.s. ambassador to russia. and the former deputy erie secretary-general of nato. this was a massive undertaking stretching over several months

and involving several countries. can you give us a sense of what it would've been like behind-the-scenes. how difficult it would've been to organize a swap like this. >> it took a lot of very intense negotiations. i look forward to reading all of these accounts that are just coming out now. clearly the stakes were very high because as was just said, the russians were seeking the release of a cold-blooded murderer who had killed a chechen leader on the streets of berlin in broad daylight. at the same time, it has also been said, you have to suspend some of your moral judgments here when you are try to overcome a human tragedy. i think this is a little

surprising actually that this all came together at this time. many people were speculating that putin would wait until the u.s. election campaign was in full swing with her might be opportunities to influence u.s. public opinion. or they might keep it under reserve as a card to play with the next u.s. president. at the end of the day, putin felt like the terms of the deal were good and now from the russian point of view. to justify acting now. and he did not want to risk the possibility of someone could derail the deal and lead to a hardening of the u.s. position. anchor: you are ambassador to russia. how do you go forward and remove the incentive for russia to do this again? >> is not easy.

the russians have no moral scruples. so they always take things one step higher. i think this is continuing to maintain the broader pressures that we have tried to put on russia. particularly since their aggression against ukraine. more sanctions. to make sure there are other ways to extract a price if they continue this kind of hostage diplomacy. there is no perfect solution. anchor: the former president, donald trump, you mentioned the election campaign committee said in a statement on true social that the u.s. and their allies should not have given up so much in this because it sets a bad precedent. he said this thing could happen again in the future. what is your thought on that? >> i'm not surprised he would say something as self-serving as that.

he also said that putin was holding these hostages for him as a gift to bestow on him when he was elected. that is all neither here nor there because i think putin was hoping that the terms of the deal, he wanted to get that person. that have become a contentious issue in earlier negotiations on this issue. at the same time, from the u.s. point of view, more than just a handful of american citizens were freed. also some very political and significant russian dissidents. who may continue to have influence in russia going forward. i think i was a heavy price for putin to pay. these are people who can continue to put some pressure on

the putin regime. especially as war fatigue starts to grow. anchor: let me ask you one more question that was asked to president biden when he was delivering his remarks today. what do you think this means for u.s.-russian relations moving forward? >> i don't read too much into it. these kind of prisoner exchanges are defined by their own parameters and by the situation on the ground. i think the overall relationship is not likely to get much of a boost from this deal. there is no sign of the russians softening their position on a deal for peace in ukraine. they haven't changed one iota since the beginning of the invasion. we have seen other forms of escalation against the west like sabotage of infrastructure.

continued information campaigns to discredit the west. we have a long way to go before anything resembling a constructive relationship can be reestablished. this is not an example that will influence other issues. anchor: we have to leave it here for today but thank you for joining us. >> you are welcome. anchor: the wall street journal said in a statement that we condemn the putin regime. it is part of an all-out assault on the free press and truth. he and his family have had great courage. joining me now is the former moscow bureau chief for cbs news and a professor at fordham

university. have you on. remind us again why evan gershkovich was detained. >> he was of a reporting trip. he was going about his duties as he had many times before. in the middle of dinner, intelligence agents swooped in and arrested him and accused him of sb -- the russians of never provided any evidence whatsoever that he was involved in any kind of espionage was doing anything other than his job, which was journalism. anchor: there has been brought advocacy from press freedom groups around the world who are celebrating his release today. another journalist was released today. when you were the moscow journalist, what does this tell us about free speech and russia. >> free speech is under attack

in russia like never before. i first started going to russia in 1990. even in the soviet days there was not such an attack on free speech. people were learning what free speech was all about. what i was working for a reporter for cbs was a great time of freedom. the russian press absolutely blossomed in those years. one of the first things that putin did after becoming president was to start to crack down on the russian press. he took a very popular russian television station other state control. it had been a very constructive critic of the government. it became clear very quickly that putin was no fan of constructive criticism or criticism in any way. we have seen hundreds of not thousands of russian journalists flee the country and try to

cover it from abroad because they are in danger if they try to report freely. anchor: the next question would be canned u.s. journalists now operate in russia? >> they can but i think they are taking great risk to do so. i have spoke to journalists who are there now. a lot of reporters are making trips and then taking their chances and leaving. the russians used to routinely give us a one-year visa. now my understanding is they are only getting three month leases to four reporters. that means you have to go in and see if they give you a credit at a visa to go back and. they are keeping reporters there on a tight leash. what happened to evan gershkovich is on the mind of

every reporter. anchor: so great to have you on. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. anchor: now to some other news, new reports are emerging about the assassination of a hamas political leader. he was in tehran for the inauguration of a new president. he was being hosted inside the presidential palace complex. in the early hours of wednesday morning there was an explosion. it killed him. the new york times cites sources within that says the explosion was not from a missile but rather from a bomb that had been hidden in the guesthouse. he often stayed in the guesthouse while visiting tehran.

it was very specifically targeted at his room. it is not sure when the bomb was planted. thousands took to the streets of tehran to mourn him. there were similar scenes in beirut. he was described as the right-hand man of the leader. he issued a new warning. we have a report from beirut. reporter: this was the first reaction we had from the head of hezbollah. he was speaking to borders by a video linkup. the message was this was a strike that was completely unacceptable. that is really carried out an assassination. and civilians have been killed including two children. he said what happened has raised the temperature in the middle

east and taken the conflict to a new level. he also spoke about the killing in iran of the political wing. this is been a significant development. he said the two killings, assassinations, will really provoke a strong reaction from iran, which backs both hezbollah in lebanon and hamas. we did not get any indication as to what response will be. but certainly the neighbors of lebanon have been talking about the need to really lower the temperature. the u.s. is saying there is a real fear that things can escalate nobly once the ca wider war in the middle east. a lot of people are concerned about what happens in the coming days. it has been tit-for-tat over the last few months. will this escalate further in the days to come? anchor: just one more item of

news from the region, the israeli army has confirmed the death of the leader of the hamas military wing. say he was killed in a july airstrike endows it. delicates from the democratic -- delegates from the mechanic party are choosing their candidate. there is an online vote before the formal convention so they can meet the deadline for getting a candidate onto the ballot in certain states. j.d. vance made a visit to the u.s.-mexico border. they say the border has been mismanaged and they blame harris. great to have you. before i ask you about the politics, tell us how the mood has been in the newsroom. i believe it has probably been quite a moment. >> we are so happy that our colleague was released. he never should have been in

jail. the charges against him were baseless. journalism is not a crime. this game being played is very disturbing and needs to end. we are all very overjoyed. it was basically a big party and our newsroom today because we are all happy that our colleague is safe. anchor: let's talk about politics. donald trump has been doubling down on comments about harris that he made yesterday. he sent on a tweet today where he was showing her with her indian family members. he is really leaning into this. what do people think of this strategy? >> it has been a hallmark of his political career that he began nine years ago that he never apologizes our backs down or takes back anything he has said. so it is quite characteristic of him.

that he would try to assemble evidence for this remark. it is not true that she only recently started identifying as black. he is trying to make a case that she is a phony. she chooses an identity based on what is advantageous for her. most republicans do not think this is a good idea politically. nothing itself over -- they don't think it is helpful for him to campaign in this way. the irony is there a lot of things that she has changed her position on. a lot of policy positions that she took and now is repudiating. they would like trump to talk about those flip-flops of her. but republicans feel that these attacks on her race are damaging. they would prefer that trump not engage with them. anchor: the vice presidential nominee is on the border highlighting immigration and the fact that harris was given this

portfolio on the border. how effective do you think that can be? >> republicans believe that is a much more effective line of attack. immigration policy has been one of the most problematic issues for this administration. it is one of the issues on which they are lowest rated. clearly a wedding argument for trump is to say that he will fix the border. he has a lot more credibility on this issue. he has been talking about it for use. we don't know what she is proposing to do. it? for her. it is been 10 days that she has been the nominated i think we would like her to lay out in much more detail where she stands on a lot of policies. including immigration policy. this has the potential to be quite effective and that is why you see the trump campaign putting it in tens of millions of dollars worth of ads. anchor: a lot of people

anticipating who the vice presidential pick will be for harris. what are we hearing? >> we do not know who it is. it's possible she doesn't know who it is. that she has not made up her mind. the vetting process is continuing her she has to do this quickly and get to know all of these people. that will be a challenge. the top contenders we are hearing about have been senator mark kelly from arizona and governor josh shapiro from the crucial swing state of pennsylvania. both of them are older white men who send a certain message to the electorate of moderation and stability and normalcy. they have that in common. there are plenty of others who have been named but those are the top ones we should keep an eye on. anchor: she will be out in battleground states next week with the vice presidents of

quick -- pick likely. >> the first rally will be in philadelphia. think of that what you will. anchor: always good to have you here. thank you so much for joining us. you can follow the latest news from around the world including our live blog with the latest updates on our top story, the historic prisoner swap. stay with us. ♪ announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna nawaz is away. on the “news hour” tonight -- >> their brutal order is over and they are free. geoff: high-profile americans held in russia are released as