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MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Moscow and Washington are in contact over U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich, who has been jailed in Russia since March on espionage charges that the Biden administration and the Wall Street Journal have denounced forcefully as baseless.
Putin, speaking at his marathon annual news conference and call-in show for citizens, denied that Russia had refused an offer to release Gershkovich, as the State Department asserted last week, and said talks were ongoing.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Thursday confirmed that talks were continuing to “get Evan and Paul [Whelan, another jailed American,] home where they belong.”
Gershkovich, an American citizen who was based in Moscow as a correspondent for the Journal with accreditation from the Russian Foreign Ministry, was arrested by Russian authorities while on a reporting trip in Yekaterinburg, a city in the Urals, roughly 880 miles east of Moscow.
Since then, Gershkovich has been awaiting trial at the Lefortovo prison in Moscow. The White House has said he is “wrongfully detained.” Russian prosecutors have not made public any eence to justify the arrest, even as senior officials in Moscow have effectively proclaimed him guilty of working as a spy.
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Last week, a State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, said Russia had rejected a “substantial offer” aimed at freeing the journalist and Whelan, who is imprisoned in Russia.
During Putin’s news conference on Thursday, New York Times correspondent Valerie Hopkins asked Putin if Moscow had, in fact, rejected Washington’s offer regarding Gershkovich.
“We have not refused to return him. We want to reach an agreement, and these agreements should be acceptable and satisfy both sides,” Putin replied. “We have contacts with our American partners on this matter. It’s not an easy dialogue. I will not go into details, but it seems that we are speaking in a language that is understandable to each other.”
Putin added: “I hope that we will find a solution, and that the American side will make a decision that will be acceptable by the Russian as well. They should be based on humanitarian considerations.”
Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, rejected Putin’s claim, saying, “He’s absolutely wrong that his government did not rebuff a serious proposal. There was one put forward and they rebuffed. He’s just wrong. Flat out.”
In December 2022, the Biden administration traded convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for the release of American basketball star Brittney Griner, who had been arrested and charged with possession of a small amount of cannabis oil. Some critics said the release of Bout, nicknamed the “Merchant of Death,” would only encourage Russia to imprison more Americans. A little more than three months later, Gershkovich was detained and accused of being a spy.
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Gershkovich appeared in court on Thursday to appeal a ruling last month that extended his pretrial detention until Jan. 30. The extension was upheld. Since his arrest on March 29, his detention has been extended multiple times and the Russian courts have rejected appeals by his legal team to change the terms of his detention, for example, to house arrest.
“Evan’s ordeal has now stretched for on for over 250 days,” Lynne Tracy, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, said outside the courthouse on Thursday. “The U.S. government will continue to advocate for Evan’s immediate release and the release of all wrongfully detained American citizens overseas.”
Gershkovich is the first American journalist to be charged with espionage in Russia since the Cold War. Whelan, a former Marine, has served five years of a 16-year sentence that the U.S. government also says is baseless.
Last week, President Biden promised to continue pressing for Gershkovich’s release, after the State Department announced that Moscow had rejected a new offer aimed at freeing the journalist and Whelan.
Karen DeYoung in Washington contributed to this report.
