Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva and Paul Whelan were part of a deal that freed 24 people in the biggest prisoner swap between Russia and the West since the Cold War.
They were greeted on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland by US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Asked about concerns that the deal might incentivize the detention of Americans in Russia, Mr. Biden said: “I don’t share this idea that you’re letting these people rot in jail because other people might be arrested.”
Ms Harris said it was “a great day” and praised Biden’s role in the prisoner exchange.
In a jab at Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Ms Harris said: “This is proof that we have a president who understands the power of diplomacy.”
The complex deal and negotiation with Russia and many other countries was done in secret for more than a year.
The return of Mr Gershkovich, Ms Kurmasheva and Mr Whelan comes after the transfer of the other 13 Western prisoners to Germany last night.
Among them was dual UK-Russian national Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was jailed for 25 years after being convicted of criticizing the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Eight Russian prisoners were released from prisons in the US, Germany, Norway, Slovenia and Poland as part of the deal.
Gershkowitz, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, was first arrested and detained in March 2023 after Russia claimed he was “gathering classified information” at the behest of the CIA.
Mr. Gershkovich said the allegations against him were false.
He was sentenced to 16 years in prison earlier this month after being tried for espionage in a trial widely seen as politically motivated.
Alsou Kurmasheva holds Russian and American citizenship and is a journalist for Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty, a US-funded media organization.
She was arrested in June 2023 and later charged with spreading false information about the Russian military, which she denied.
Last month, he was sentenced to more than six years in prison.
A former US Marine, Paul Whelan has been in custody in Russia since he was arrested in a Moscow hotel room on December 28, 2018.
Police said they caught him with a computer memory stick containing a list of undercover Russian agents.
He was sentenced to 16 years in a maximum security prison for espionage.
Mr Whelan, who also has British citizenship, had pleaded not guilty, claiming he had been set up by a sting operation and had been given the USB drive by someone else, thinking it only contained holiday photos.
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