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The 32-year-old New Jersey native was among three United States residents released from prison in Russia in on Thursday, Aug. 1, in what's being called the biggest prisoner swap between since 1991.
Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, and radio journalism Alsu Kurmasheva, were the prisoners released to American soil.
The massive swap freed more than two dozen prisoners from six different countries.
A photo shared by President Joe Biden to X shows the former hostages smiling, and proudly displaying an American flag, on an airplane.
"After enduring unimaginable suffering and uncertainty, the Americans detained in Russia are safe, free, and have begun their journeys back into the arms of their families," the POTUS account said.
Gershkovich was allegedly trying to obtain classified information, and was detained in Yekaterinburg, Russia's Federal Security Service said in March 2023, as reported by Daily Voice.
Gershkovich was reportedly the first American correspondent to be detained on espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War. In 1986, U.S. News and World Report reporter Nicholas Daniloff was arrested by the KGB.
After a hasty trial behind closed doors, Gershkovich was found guilty and sentenced to 16 years in a high-security prison, ABC reported.
Gershkovich was the captain of the Princeton High School's soccer team and earned four varsity letters before graduating in 2010, the same year his team won the New Jersey Group III State Championship. He was listed as as third-team all-state in 2009.
He played club soccer for Princeton Union, where he helped to lead the team to the New Jersey State Championship and Region I Semifinals in 2007, Bowdoin's athletics department said.
Gershkowitz's Instagram page shows he played in a Russian club hockey team and in his free time, and enjoyed touring the country.
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