President Joe Biden says he is seriously considering a prisoner exchange with Russia for jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
Mr Biden said efforts were underway to free Mr Gershkovich, who has been detained for more than 100 days on bogus espionage charges, at a joint press conference with Finnish president Sauli Niinistö in Helsinki on Thursday.
“I’m serious about prisoner exchange,” Mr Biden said in response to a question from a Wall Street Journal reporter.
“I’m serious about doing all we can to free Americans being illegally held in Russia or anywhere else for that matter. And that process is underway.”
Mr Gershkovich, 31, was detained by officers from Russia’s FSB spy agency in the city of Yekaterinburg on suspicion of spying for the US on 29 March.
The Wall Street Journal and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken have emphatically denied the allegations, while the State Department has designated him as “wrongfully detained”.
A Russian court has since extended his pretrial detention until 30 August. The charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
Evan Gershkovich has been locked up in a Russian prison for more than 100 days— (AP)
Mr Gershkovich, the son of Jewish immigrants who grew up in the Soviet Union, had been covering Russian affairs for the Journal in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier this week, his parents Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich told ABC News that Mr Biden had promised to do “whatever it takes” to bring their son home.
The Kremlin last week said they were in contact with US officials about a potential prisoner swap for Mr Gershkovich.
On the 100th day of his incarceration last Friday, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed that US officials were speaking with their Russian counterparts to try to secure his release.
“We are prepared to do hard things in order to get our citizens home, including getting Evan home. I do not want to give false hope.”
On 3 July, US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy visited Mr Gershkovich for the first time since April.
US authorities freed US basketball star Brittney Griner in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout last December.
