A senior Russian diplomat said on Thursday his country may be available to discuss a possible prisoner exchange with the US in the case of Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter detained for espionage.
Gershkovich, 31, the newspaper’s management and the US government deny that the journalist is involved in espionage and are demanding his release from the Kremlin.
Deputy Foreign Minister Serguei Ryabkov told the state news agency Tass that talks about a possible prisoner exchange could take place through the special channels that Russian and American security services have set up for these purposes.
“We have a working channel that has been used in the past to reach concrete agreements and these agreements have been fulfilled”reminded Ryabkov, adding that no third country is needed to mediate the conflict.
Still, the deputy minister stressed that Moscow will only negotiate a possible prisoner exchange after a journalist’s trial, while other espionage cases took a year or more.
In December, American basketball star Brittney Griner was traded for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout after being tried and convicted of drug charges.
During the Griner affair, the Kremlin repeatedly asked the United States for the White House to use the “special channel” to discuss a solution, with a prisoner exchange.
Gershkovich faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has already asked his Russian counterpart, Serguei Lavrov, to release Gershkovich immediately.
US President Joe Biden, meanwhile, spoke with Greshkovich’s parents on Tuesday and took the opportunity to once again publicly condemn the behavior of Russian authorities.
On Monday, the US government said Gershkovich was “unjustly detained,” meaning a State Department agency will take the lead in attempting to release him.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) arrested Gershkovich on March 29 in Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city.
The Wall Street Journal journalist is the first US correspondent to be arrested in Russia for alleged espionage since the end of the Cold War.
The FSB accuses Gershkovich of trying to obtain classified information about a Russian arms factory.
Gershkovich is being held in Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison.
Source: DN
