Alsou Kurmasheva’s family has been in disbelief since being invited to the White House and learning of her release in Thursday’s historic exchange of 24 prisoners between the United States, Russia and several other countries.
Speaking to ABC News Live, Kurmasheva’s husband, Pavel Butorin, said he would believe it when he saw his wife and could hug her.
“I still can’t believe it. I think I will believe it when I see Alsou… when we can hug her. It was an unreal day,” Butorin said.
Russian-American Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who is in custody after being charged with violating Russia’s foreign agents law, attends a court hearing in Kazan, Russia, May 31, 2024.
Alexei Nasyrov/Reuters, ARCHIVES
A court last month convicted Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist working for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) who lived in Prague, Czech Republic, for more than two decades, of spreading false information about the Russian military.
His conviction and six-and-a-half-year prison sentence by a court in Kazan, Russia, came the same day that another Russian court convicted Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich of espionage and sentenced him to 16 years in prison.
Gershkovich was also released in the prisoner exchange.
Butorin and his daughter, Bibi Butorin, said they were able to speak with Kurmasheva on the phone from the White House.
“She’s in good spirits and she’s so happy to be coming home,” Bibi Butorin told ABC News Live.
The family of Alsou Kurmasheva: husband Pavel Butorin (back), daughter Miriam Butorin (right) and daughter Bibi Butorin (left) hug as they listen to U.S. President Joe Biden speak about a prisoner swap with Russia, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC, August 1, 2024.
Michael Reynolds/EPA via Shutterstock
The family took the phone call while standing next to President Joe Biden.
“It was something very special for us,” said Pavel Butorin.
Bibi Butorin told ABC News Live that the months away from her mother have been difficult and she is grateful that Kurmasheva is coming home.
“I think for me, it was really, really disheartening not to have my mom with me, especially for so many months. I missed her. I miss her more than I can even say. And so I’m just so grateful and happy that she [gets] to come back to me,” she said.
The family of Alsou Kurmasheva, her daughter Bibi Butorin and her husband Pavel Butorin, speak during an interview with ABC News Live.
ABC News
Kurmasheva traveled to Russia in May 2023 to help care for her mother. She was temporarily detained at Kazan airport after attempting to return home in June. Authorities confiscated her U.S. and Russian passports, preventing her from leaving the country.
She was eventually fined 10,000 rubles ($103) for failing to register her U.S. passport with Russian authorities. However, before she could pay the fine, she was arrested again on October 18, 2023, for failing to declare herself a “foreign agent,” according to RFE/RL.
In December, Russian authorities launched a third investigation against her for “spreading false information” about the Russian military. She was convicted after a “speedy and secret trial” that lasted just two days, according to the Associated Press.
On Thursday afternoon, Vice President Kamala Harris, now the presumptive Democratic nominee, made a statement to cameras as she left Houston, including her role in freeing the prisoners.
“For many years, President Biden, I and our team have led complex diplomatic negotiations to bring home these unjustly detained Americans,” Harris said. “We have never stopped fighting for their freedom, and today, despite all their suffering, I take comfort in knowing that their horrific ordeal is finally over.”
