“Constant” contacts with the United States for an exchange to free American journalist Gershkovich

Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated on Wednesday that contacts were constant with the United States to achieve an exchange of prisoners which would allow the release of American journalist Evan Gershkovich. “The relevant services of the United States and Russia are in constant contact. And, of course, (these issues) are resolved on the basis of reciprocity,” said Mr. Putin, questioned about the negotiations for the release of the journalist, detained for more than a year in Russia. “I will not go into details. I know that the American administration is acting energetically to obtain his release,” said the Russian president, while stressing that these talks must be carried out with the greatest discretion.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who also worked for AFP in Moscow in the past, was arrested by the Russian security services (FSB) during a report in Yekaterinburg, in the Urals in March 2023 He is accused of espionage, a crime punishable by twenty years in prison and of unprecedented severity since the end of the USSR concerning a foreign journalist. He rejects these accusations, as do the United States, his newspaper, his loved ones and his family. Russia has never substantiated its accusations or publicly provided evidence, and the entire procedure has been classified secret.

A requested exchange

The Russian president had already said he was willing to exchange the journalist for Vadim Krassikov, imprisoned for life in Germany for the murder of a Chechen war veteran in Berlin in 2019. According to German authorities, the killer was acting for account of the Russian special services. But efforts for such an exchange could have taken a more complicated turn since the death in prison of Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny who, according to his entourage, was also part of a prisoner exchange project currently being negotiated.