Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he is keen for a prisoner swap for Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and Marine veteran Paul Whelan, but talks with the US have not been “simple” – and the deal must be on his terms.
“We want to reach an agreement, and these agreements must be mutually acceptable and must suit both parties,” Putin said when asked about the two jailed Americans during a lengthy year-end press conference.
The Russian leader confirmed that his government had ongoing contacts with the US over the issue.
“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 each other,” Putin added of negotiations.
“I hope we will find a solution. But, I repeat, the American side must hear us and make an appropriate decision, one that suits the Russian side.”
Putin, 71, addressed the fate of the two US citizens on the same day that a Moscow court extended Gershkovich’s pre-trial detention for at least another six weeks, until Jan. 30.
The reporter, held since March 29, is the first American reporter to be charged with espionage in Russia since 1986. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Gershkovich, his employer, and the White House all deny he is a spy.
The WSJ said Thursday that while it “expected” him to be held again, “it’s important that we appeal these rulings to call out the absurd nature of the charge.
“Evan has been wrongfully detained for more than 250 days for simply doing his job as a journalist, and any portrayal to the contrary is fiction.
“We will stand with Evan and his family for as long as it takes and continue to demand his immediate release.”
Whelan was convicted by a Russian court of spying on behalf of the US in 2020 and sentenced to 16 years at a labor camp in Mordovia. The retired Marine and the Biden Administration both denied the allegation.
Last week, the State Department said that Russia had recently rejected a substantial new offer for Whelan and Gershkovich’s release.
In late November, Whelan’s family said that the 53-year-old had been violently attacked by another inmate while working in a sewing workshop and required medical attention.
A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital at the time the agency was concerned over the incident and called on the Russian government to immediately release Whelan.
Whelan was arrested in December 2018 in the Moscow area, after being accused of accepting a USB drive containing classified information.
He was left out of last year’s high-profile prisoner swap that saw WNBA star Brittney Griner, who had been convicted of drug possession charges, exchanged for Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout.
Less than three months after Griner returned to the US, Gershkovich was detained on suspicion of gathering classified information about a military plant while was on a reporting trip to the remote Ural Mountains on behalf of the Wall Street Journal.
The Biden Administration considers both Gershkovich and Whelan to be wrongfully detained.
Tracey Lynn, the US ambassador to Russia, previously accused the Kremlin of using Gershkovich as a “political pawn.”
With Post wires
