The Russian trial of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich began Wednesday, reports Francesca Ebel of The Washington Post.
Ebel writes, “U.S. Embassy officials said that they were given brief access to Gershkovich ahead of the proceedings and were present at the court.
“‘Russian authorities have failed to provide any evidence supporting the charges against him, failed to justify his continued detention, and failed to explain why Evan’s work as a journalist constitutes a crime,’ the embassy statement said after the hearing.
“On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Peskov declined to comment on the trial and echoed Putin’s comments on potential prisoner swap negotiations.
“‘No, we can’t talk about any signals at the moment, we can only repeat that this topic likes silence,’ he told reporters at a daily briefing. ‘We know that this topic is very high-profile in the United States, but it is not so high-profile inside our country. The investigation is underway, the trial is underway, and we must wait for the verdict to be delivered.'”
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