Russian President Vladimir Putin has personally met the Russians released in a major prisoner exchange at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport.
Putin hugged at least one of the men on the tarmac, where the presidential guard was standing guard, television pictures released by the Kremlin showed.
The Russian secret service chiefs Alexander Bortnikov from the domestic agency known as FSB and Sergei Naryshkin, head of the foreign agency or SWR as well as Defence Minister Andrei Belousov were also part of the reception committee.
“You are at home, you are at home,” Putin greeted the freed men and announced that they would be nominated for state honours.
Tears of joy were visible on the faces of those released.
One of the men released was a convicted murderer who killed a Chechen dissident in broad daylight in a park in central Berlin. He was released from German custody as part of the deal.
