Prisoner swap for WSJ’s Gershkovich hits snags

Evan Gershkovich

A potential prisoner swap with Russia for detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has hit a snag, reports Dustin Volz and Louise Radnofsky of The Journal.

Volz and Radnofsky report, “A made-in-the-USA solution, by contrast, is entirely within the American government’s control, even if it carries some domestic political challenges. But while there are several potential prisoners in U.S. custody who could be trade prospects, U.S. officials say Russia hasn’t indicated a clear interest in negotiating for their release.

“The U.S. government considers Gershkovich, as well as Paul Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive, to be wrongfully detained in Russia, and says it is committed to bringing them home. It has also sought the release of another American, teacher Marc Fogel, on humanitarian grounds. A trade of Russian and American prisoners is seen by U.S. observers as the likeliest way any of the men will be freed.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.