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Vladimir Putin on Thursday said he believed “an agreement can be reached” to free imprisoned US journalist Evan Gershkovich, suggesting he would swap him for a Russian assassin serving a life sentence in Germany.
Russia’s president compared Gershkovich’s imprisonment in Moscow to “a person serving a sentence in an allied country of the US”, who Putin said “due to patriotic sentiments, eliminated a bandit in one of the European capitals”.
Vadim Krasikov killed a former Chechen rebel in a Berlin park in 2019. US officials have said Russia has raised his case in prisoner swap negotiations.
Putin’s comments, made in an interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, are the most concrete description yet of Russia’s conditions to release Gershkovich, a 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter who was jailed almost a year ago on espionage charges. The US government and the paper reject the charges and describe them as completely false.
“I do not rule out that the person you refer to, Mr Gershkovich, may return to his motherland,” Putin said. “We want the US special services to think about how they can contribute to achieving the goals our special services are pursuing.”
Another US journalist, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reporter Alsu Kurmasheva, is also being held in Russia after being arrested last year. Kurmasheva, who is also a Russian citizen, is accused of violating a law on “foreign agents” and may face additional charges.
Another American, US Marine veteran Paul Whelan, is also being held on espionage charges in Russia that he and the US vehemently deny.
This is a developing story
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