The arrest of an American reporter on spying charges in Russia appears to be a "retaliation measure" against the US, an expert says - as one of Vladimir Putin's minister's worryingly rules out the notion of a quick prisoner swap.
Russia's security service arrested The Wall Street Journal's Evan Gershkovich in Yekaterinburg on Thursday, accusing him of trying to obtain classified information, in the first such incident since the Cold War.
The case against Mr Gershkovich could be used by Russia as a "trump card" for a future prisoner exchange, a Russian lawyer suggested, although deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov denied that possibility.
