Washington:

Tears of joy flowed in the Oval Office the moment families of prisoners such as Evan Gershkovich, freed by Russia in the biggest such swap since the Cold War, first spoke by phone to their loved ones, a White House video showed on Thursday.

“This is momma. Do you hear me? It’s your mom,” Gershkovich’s mother tells her son, a Wall Street Journal reporter, in the emotional two-minute video of the virtual reunion, posted by President Joe Biden’s social media account on X.

“We just want to say how overwhelmed we are,” Biden tells the released detainees as the families stand around the presidential Resolute Desk. “You’ve been wrongfully detained for a long time, and we are glad you are home.”

Every parent, child, spouse, and loved one who joined me in the Oval Office today has been praying for this day for a long time.

In just a few short hours when our fellow Americans return home, those prayers will be answered. pic.twitter.com/2xglu30HE9

— President Biden (@POTUS) August 2, 2024

Russia freed Gershkovich, ex-U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and others on Thursday as part of the elaborate multi-country exchange that the White House said involved 24 prisoners, including Russian hitman Vadim Kasikov, released by Germany.

“Every parent, child, spouse and loved one who joined me in the Oval Office today has been praying for this day for a long time,” Biden posted about the deal, which was negotiated in secrecy for more than a year.

In the video, Biden tells family members the detainees have been released and are heading to board the plane that will take them from Russia to the United States.

“No word is strong enough for this. I was sure I was going to die in prison,” Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza tells his family as they weep.

“I still think I am sleeping in my prison cell in Omsk instead of hearing your voice.” 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Moscow, Russia:

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday threatened to relaunch production of intermediate-range nuclear weapons if the United States confirmed its intention to deploy missiles to Germany or elsewhere in Europe.

“If the United States carries out such plans, we will consider ourselves liberated from the unilateral moratorium previously adopted on the deployment of medium- and short-range strike capabilities,” Putin said during a naval parade in Saint Petersburg.

Putin added that now in Russia “the development of a number of such systems is in the final stages”.

“We will take mirror measures in deploying them, taking into account the actions of the US, its satellites in Europe and in other regions of the world,” the Russian president warned.

Such missiles, which can travel between 500 and 5,500 kilometres (300-3,400 miles), were the subject of an arms control treaty signed by the US and the Soviet Union in 1987.

But both Washington and Moscow withdrew from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 2019, each accusing the other of violations.

Russia subsequently said it would not restart production of such missiles as long as the United States did not deploy missiles abroad.

In early July, Washington and Berlin announced that the “episodic deployments” of long-range US missiles, including Tomahawk cruise missiles, to Germany would begin in 2026.

Putin said that “important Russian administrative and military sites” would fall within the range of such missiles that “could in the future be equipped with nuclear warheads, such that our territories would be within around 10 minutes” of a strike being launched.

The Russian president also mentioned that the US has deployed Typhon mid-range missile systems in Denmark and the Philippines in recent exercises.

‘Cold War’ reminder 

“This situation reminds us of the events of the Cold War linked to the deployment of American Pershing medium-range missiles in Europe,” said Putin.

The US deployed US Pershing ballistic missiles in West Germany in the 1980s at the height of the Cold War.

US missiles continued to be stationed through the reunification of Germany and into the 1990s.

But following the end of the Cold War, the United States significantly reduced the number of missiles stationed in Europe as the threat from Moscow receded.

The Kremlin had already warned in mid-July that the proposed US deployment would mean that European capitals would become a target for Russian missiles.

“We are taking steady steps towards the Cold War. All the attributes of the Cold War with the direct confrontation are returning,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a state TV reporter.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Moscow:

The United States’ plan to periodically station long-range missiles in Germany will lead to Cold War-style confrontation between Russia and the West, the Kremlin said Thursday.

The White House announced the decision on Wednesday during a NATO summit in Washington, arguing the stationing of long-range weapons including Tomahawk cruise missiles in Europe acts as a deterrent.

“We are taking steady steps towards the Cold War,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a state TV reporter.

“All the attributes of the Cold War with the direct confrontation are returning,” he said.

He added Washington’s decision gave Russia “a reason to pull together” and “fulfil all the goals” of its military campaign in Ukraine.

NATO countries spearheaded by the United States have bolstered their defences in Europe in the wake of Russia’s 2022 offensive against neighbouring Ukraine.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hailed the planned deployment of the US weapons in his country, calling the move a “necessary and important decision at the right time”.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)