Commenting on whether consular visits to Evan Gershkovich and Vladimir Dunaev could potentially pave way for a prisoner swap, Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov remarked that Moscow and Washington have touched on the issue.
In a conference call with reporters on Tuesday, July 4, 2023, Peskov disclosed, “We have said that there have been certain contacts on the subject, but we don’t want them to be discussed in public.”
“They must be carried out and continue in complete silence,” he added.
Evan Gershkovich is a Wall Street Journal reporter who has been held behind bars in Moscow since March on charges of espionage and Vladimir Dunaev is a Russian citizen in U.S. custody on cybercrime charges.
Peskov’s remarks opens doors for contacts with the U.S. regarding a possible prisoner exchange that could potentially involve Gershkovich and Dunaev.
On Monday, July 3,2023, the U.S. Ambassador to Moscow, Lynne Tracy, was allowed to visit Gershkovich in only the second of such meeting since Gershkovich was detained in March. Tracy last visited the detained journalist on April 17, 2023.
“Ambassador Tracy reports that Mr. Gershkovich is in good health and remains strong, despite his circumstances,” a U.S State Department spokesperson said.
“We expect Russian authorities to provide continued consular access,” the spokesperson added.
The 31-year-old Gershkovich was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg while on a reporting trip to Russia.
The Lefortovo jail in Moscow, renowned for its severe circumstances, is where he is being detained. The decision to hold him in detention until August 30 was affirmed by a Moscow court last week.
Both Gershkovich and his employer refute the accusations. His detention alarmed journalists in Russia, where the authorities have not offered any proof to back up the espionage allegations.
“Evan is a member of the free press who right up until he was arrested was engaged in newsgathering. Any suggestions otherwise are false,” The Wall Street Journal previously said.
Gershkovich is the first American reporter to face espionage charges in Russia since September 1986, when Nicholas Daniloff, a Moscow correspondent for U.S. News and World Report, was arrested by the KGB.
Daniloff was released 20 days later in a swap for an employee of the Soviet Union’s U.N. mission who was arrested by the FBI, also on spying charges.
In April, the U.S State Department formally designated Gershkovich as “wrongfully detained” and called on Russia to release him immediately.
However, on June 22, 2023, a Russian judge rejected an application for Gershkovich to be released from prison while awaiting trial. After that decision, Tracy, the U.S Ambassador, accused Moscow of conducting “hostage diplomacy”.
Vladimir Dunaev, on the other hand, was extradited from South Korea on the U.S. cybercrime charges and is in detention in Ohio.
According to Russian state media, Russian diplomats were granted consular access to him on Monday for the first time since his arrest in 2021.
CPJ Calls For Gershkovich’s Release
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an advocacy group tweeted on Monday, July 3, 2023 that, “This week marks 100 days that press freedom supporters & colleagues have pushed for the release of [Wall Street Journal] reporter Evan Gershkovich, unjustly imprisoned in Russia.”
“Let’s stand together on this chilling milestone and demand Evan’s immediate release,” the tweet read.
Also on Monday, the US State Department once more demanded that Paul Whelan, a former US Marine serving a 16-year sentence in a Russian penal colony on espionage charges, and Gershkovich be released immediately.
The department added that Whelan, who was imprisoned in Moscow in 2018, had been “wrongfully detained”.
Since Gershkovich’s arrest, U.S representatives have been calling on Russia to grant him consular access, claiming that by preventing American diplomats from reaching him, the Russian government is infringing on international law.
