Joe Biden made a joke to a young girl after the United States and other allies reached a deal with Russia for their largest prisoner exchange since the end of the Cold War.
The US president spoke at a press conference after American Journalist Evan Gershkovich and US Marine Paul Whelan were released from jail in Russia.
Biden thanked the other nations involved in the swap, saying "the deal that made this possible was a feat of diplomacy and friendship."
The president then summoned the daughter of journalist Alsu Kurmasheva and sang Happy Birthday ahead of her 13th birthday tomorrow.
Joe Biden made a joke to a young girl after the United States and other allies reached a deal with Russia for their largest prisoner exchange since the end of the Cold WarReutersDuring the emotional moment, the room erupts into singing before Biden then tells her: "Remember no serious guys until you're 30."
The soon-to-be-teenager then awkwardly laughs along with Biden and other relatives before hugging family members and bursting into tears.
It comes after the deal freed 24 prisoners being held in six countries with 16 from the West and eight who are returning to Russia.
Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years in prison after a swift and secretive trial in Russia’s highly politicised legal system.
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The 32-year-old was detained in March last year while on a reporting trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg and accused of spying for the US, which he denies.
He has been behind bars ever since, becoming the first US journalist taken into Russian custody on espionage charges since Nicholas Daniloff in 1986.
Speaking at the conference, Biden said: "Let me say this says a lot about the United States that we work relentlessly to free Americans who are unjustly held around the world.
"It also says a lot about us that this deal includes the release of Russian political prisoners.
"They stood up for democracy and human rights. Their own leaders threw them in prison. The United States helped secure their release as well.
"That’s who we are in the United States. We stand for freedom, for liberty, for justice, not only for our own people, but for others as well."
Prisoners from the United States, Russia, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Belarus are to be freed in the major east-west exchange.
