The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, confirmed this Thursday in his long annual press conference that he hopes to reach an agreement with the United States to release the Russian journalist from Russian prisons. Wall Street Journal Evan Gerhskovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan in a possible prisoner exchange. Putin assured that he hopes to reach an agreement “satisfactory for both parties.”
Russia arrested the correspondent in March Moscow Gershkovich accused of espionage. Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal and the White House They have denied that he is a spy or that he works for him U.S. government. More complicated is the case of Navy veteran Paul Whelan, who was arrested in 2018 and convicted of spying for the United States in 2020. He is sentenced to 16 years in prison. Both Whelan, who was recently attacked in his prison, and the US government deny the charges.
It is not known what conditions he has set Russia for both cases. “It is not simple, I will not go into details now, but in general it seems to me that we speak a language that is understandable to everyone. I hope that we will find a solution. But, I repeat, the American side must listen to us and make an appropriate decision, which suits the Russian side,” declared Putin in response to a question from a journalist The New York Times.
The US State Department said on December 5 that Russia had rejected a new proposal for his release in recent weeks. Gershkovich appeared in court to appeal last month’s ruling that extended his detention until January 30. Moscow claims that Gershkovich was “caught red-handed” but has yet to present any evidence to support this. In the past, Russia has taken advantage of exchanges of ordinary US citizens to free world-class Russian criminals.
MESSAGES AGAINST PUTIN