The massive prisoner swap that released four U.S. residents — including journalist Evan Gershkovich and Marine veteran Paul Whelan — from prison in Russia was nearly two years in the making and began almost immediately after the swap that freed WNBA star Brittney Griner.

Negotiations included blunt discussions between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, sources told NBC News, including an effort to persuade Lavrov that the U.S. does not use journalists as spies: "We are both adults. You know that for all our efforts to learn information, we do not use journalists."

Here’s how the complicated deal got done.