Russia presents prisoner swap ideas to US for WSJ’s Gershkovich

Evan Gershkovich

Russia said Wednesday it had presented its ideas for a prisoner swap to the United States and was waiting for a response, days before it was set to put U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich on trial, reports Agence France-Presse.

The AFP story states, “Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, was arrested in March 2023 on espionage charges rejected as false by his family, employer and the White House.

“President Vladimir Putin said in February that talks on a prisoner swap involving the journalist were under way, but the Kremlin has not given any details on the progress of the negotiations.

“‘The ball is in the court of the United States, we are waiting for them to respond to the ideas that were presented to them,’ Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Russia’s state TASS news agency in an interview.

“‘They are well known to the relevant parts of the US administration. I understand that, perhaps, something in these ideas does not suit the Americans. That’s their problem,’ he added.”

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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.