President Vladimir Putin late on Thursday met Russian citizens, who were detained in foreign countries and returned to their homeland after a prisoners’ exchange deal, at Vnukovo Airport here.

Putin congratulated them and announced that they will be nominated for state awards.

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“First of all, I want to congratulate you all on your return to your homeland. Now I want to address those of you who are directly involved in military service. I want to thank you for your loyalty to the oath, your duty and the homeland, which has never forgotten you for a minute – and here you are at home,” the President said while addressing them at the airport.

The meeting was also attended by Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Naryshkin and Director of the Federal Security Service Alexander Bortnikov.

The prisoner swap deal, mediated by Turkey, involved seven countries — the US, Norway, Germany, Poland, Russia, Belarus and Slovenia.

The most notable Russian prisoner released in the exchange was Vadim Krasikov, who was jailed for life in Germany for the 2019 murder in Berlin of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a former Chechen separatist leader. The Germans were reluctant to release him but, according to reports, Biden personally got involved and called Chancellor Olaf Scholz.