Biden administration says prisoner exchange took years of complex negotiations with Russia

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• Geoff Bennett:

  Jon Finer is President Biden's deputy national security adviser, and I spoke with him about the prisoner swap moments ago.

  Jon Finer, welcome back to the "News Hour."

• Jon Finer, U.S. Principal Deputy National Security Adviser:

  Thanks. Good to be here.

• Geoff Bennett:

  All told, this was among the most complex prisoner swaps undertaken since the Cold War. The deal was in the works for the last two years, as I understand it, and ultimately came together in the last two weeks. What were the key inflection points? How did this all happen?

• Jon Finer:

  Look, I think there are a few key aspects of this deal that really speak to the approach that our administration and President Biden have taken to foreign policy since we got here. One is diplomacy.

  We have said from the very beginning diplomacy would be the hallmark of our foreign policy, and that includes diplomacy at the level of the president. He made a call to a fellow head of state, the prime minister of Slovenia, one hour before telling the country and the world that he was no longer going to be running in this year's election to try to free up one more aspect of this deal that was ultimately successful.

  It's that sort of face-to-face and person-to-person diplomacy that's at the core of our policy. Second is allies and partners. The president has said his world view was predicated on rebuilding, revitalizing America's alliances, and you saw a half-dozen allies come together today with different aspects of this deal, which ultimately led to get it done.

  And the third is execution. As you said, this was highly complex. It involved a wide range of countries, complicated logistics, all coming together on the same day, and it was executed without a hitch. And as a result of that, a large number of people who would otherwise be held captive are going to be coming home, including three Americans and one legal permanent resident of the United States.

• Geoff Bennett:

  A question about the timing. Why now? Why did Vladimir Putin view this deal as being in his best interest?

• Jon Finer:

  Well, I'm the last person who's going to speak to the mind-set of Vladimir Putin. That would be a question better placed to others.

  But one of the things that you realize, having worked now on a number of these deals, even though this one was the most complex, is that they sort of move on their own speed. They're a long, very agonizing sometimes periods in which it feels like not a lot is getting done.

  You continue to beat your head against it, continue to try to be creative, come up with new solutions, problem-solve, have conversations, and then ultimately things can end up moving much faster than anyone anticipates.

  And that's what happened here. We wish we could have done this sooner. Ultimately, we got it done, we believe, in a timely fashion that has led people to now be home spending time with their families before too much longer. And we're quite happy about that.

• Geoff Bennett:

  To what degree does this signal any sort of breakthrough of tensions between the U.S. and Russia, and might any of this successful diplomacy be put to use in helping bring an end to Russia's war in Ukraine?

• Jon Finer:

  To be honest, I would caution anybody against drawing too many broader conclusions about the U.S.-Russia relationship based on this deal.

  That is not the course we're on, what you just described. We are obviously in a very difficult place, completely on opposite sides of the conflict in Ukraine, and I don't see that changing any time soon unless Russia makes a significant set of changes to its approach and its world view, and we don't anticipate that.

  What we had here was a target of opportunity, an opportunity to get some people home who otherwise would be continued to be held in a just unconscionable situation. We took that opportunity. But, otherwise, we are continuing with our approach, certainly with the Ukraine war, into our broader approach to the world, on its current course and speed.

• Geoff Bennett:

  While this nightmare is certainly over for those released, there were other Americans, as you well know, who were left out of this exchange, namely Marc Fogel, an American sentenced to 14 years of hard labor in Russia, and a U.S.-Russian citizen, Ksenia Karelina, who's facing charges of treason for allegedly donating $51 to a Ukrainian charity in the U.S.

  What is the administration doing to secure their release at this point?

• Jon Finer:

  There continue to be a number of Americans held under very difficult circumstances, including the two Americans you just mentioned in Russia, including Americans in Syria and Afghanistan and other places around the world.

  And this administration has made an enormous commitment from before the time we came into this office, from the transition to the Biden/Harris administration, to do what we could to get these people home. I think the president has now an extraordinary track record of doing just that. We're going to continue to work on those cases and all cases of Americans held who shouldn't be until the end of this administration.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer, thanks for joining us this evening.

• Jon Finer:

  Thanks again.