Freed American prisoner Paul Whelan described being imprisoned in Russia as “absolute nonsense by the Russian government.” He made those comments early on Friday 2 August after he, along with journalist Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva, arrived at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. The three Americans were part of the biggest US-Russian prisoner swap in post-Soviet history, a trade which follows years of back-channel negotiations despite relations between Washington and Moscow being at their lowest point since the Cold War after Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.