The Kremlin has suggested it could be open to a possible prisoner exchange involving jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, but reaffirmed that such talks must be held away from the public eye.
Asked whether Monday’s consular visits to Gershkovich, who has been held behind bars in Moscow since March on charges of espionage, and Vladimir Dunaev, a Russian citizen in US custody on cybercrime charges, could potentially herald a prisoner swap, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow and Washington had touched on the issue.
“We have said that there have been certain contacts on the subject, but we don’t want them to be discussed in public,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters. “They must be carried out and continue in complete silence.”
He didn’t offer any further details, but added that “the lawful right to consular contacts must be ensured on both sides”.
Dunaev was extradited from South Korea on the US cybercrime charges and is in detention in Ohio. Russian diplomats were granted consular access to him on Monday for the first time since his arrest in 2021, Nadezhda Shumova, the head of the Russian Embassy’s consular section, said in remarks carried by the Tass news agency.
The US ambassador to Moscow, Lynne Tracy, on Monday was allowed to visit Gershkovich for the first time since April. The US embassy did not immediately provide more information.
Dunaev was a member of a transnational, cybercriminal organisation that deployed a computer banking trojan and ransomware suite of malware known as “Trickbot”, according to a statement by the US Justice Department at the time of his extradition.
“Trickbot attacked businesses and victims across the globe and infected millions of computers for theft and ransom, including networks of schools, banks, municipal governments, and companies in the health care, energy, and agriculture sectors,” deputy attorney general Lisa O Monaco said at the time.
Gershkovich, 31, was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg while on a reporting trip to Russia. He is being held at Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, notorious for its harsh conditions. A Moscow court last month upheld a ruling to keep him in custody until 30 August.
Gershkovich and his employer deny the espionage allegations, and the US government declared him to be wrongfully detained. His arrest rattled journalists in Russia where authorities have not provided any evidence to support the charges.
Gershkovich is the first American reporter to face such charges in Russia since September 1986, when Nicholas Daniloff, a Moscow correspondent for US 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 UN mission who was arrested by the FBI, also on spying charges.
In December, Russia freed US basketball star Brittney Griner, who was arrested on drug charges, in return for the release of Viktor Bout, imprisoned in the US for weapons smuggling.
With Associated Press
