Putin Wants A Swap For Return of WSJ Reporter Evan Gershkovich

Evan Gershkovich Bring Detained For Nearly a Year

Russian leader Vladimir Putin said a prisoner exchange would probably lead to the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, but he declined to give a time frame for the deal and said Gershkovich was caught committing espionage in Russia.

The Wall Street Journal reports Gershkovich has been detained since March 2023 on an espionage allegation that he, the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny. In a two-hour interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Putin said a prisoner swap was being discussed between the U.S. and Russia. Such talks have led to swaps in the past “and probably this is going to be crowned with success as well,” Putin said. “But we have to come to an agreement.”

Putin didn’t say who, specifically, Moscow was demanding in return for Gershkovich or other U.S. citizens now detained in Russia. But he made clear reference to Russian operative Vadim Krasikov, now serving a life sentence in Germany for gunning down a Chechen émigré in a Berlin park in 2019. Putin called Krasikov, whom he did not refer to by name, a Russian patriot.