Putin says ready to release US reporter Evan Gershkovich in exchange for Russian assassin

Vladimir Putin said he is open to releasing jailed US journalist Evan Gershkovich, awaiting trial on spying charges, in exchange for a Russian assassin Vadim Krasikov serving a life sentence in Germany. Krasikov killed a former Chechen rebel in a Berlin park in 2019. US officials have said Russia has raised his case in prisoner swap negotiations. The comments by Putin were made during an interview with US host Tucker Carlson, during which he said: “I believe an agreement can be reached… There have been many successful examples of these talks crowned with success. Probably this is going to be crowned with success as well but we have to come to an agreement.” “The special services are in contact with one another. They are talking… I believe an agreement can be reached,” he added. “I do not rule out that the person you refer to, Mr Gershkovich, may return to his motherland,” Putin said. “We want the US special services to think about how they can contribute to achieving the goals our special services are pursuing," the Russian president said. Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, was arrested on 29 March 2023, during a reporting trip in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, and was accused of trying to obtain Russian defence secrets. The Russian authorities, without any evidence, had claimed that Gershkovich had been tasked “by the American side” with gathering information on “the activities of one of the enterprises of the military-defence complex”. The 32-year-old reporter and his newspaper, however, have strongly rejected the spying allegations, with the US government designating him as “wrongfully detained”. In January this year, a Moscow court extended Gershkovich’s custody by two months. Notably, he is the first Western reporter to be jailed on spying charges in Russia since the Soviet era. With inputs from agencies