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President Biden said Thursday he was serious about seeking a prisoner swap for Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who has now been jailed in Russia for more than 100 days.
“I’m serious about a prisoner swap,” Biden told reporters during a news conference in Helsinki. “I am serious about doing whatever we can to free Americans who are being held illegally in Russia or elsewhere. And that process is underway.”
The comments came at the end of a five-day tour of Europe that included attending this year’s NATO summit in Lithuania and a visit to the UK.
Gershkovich was arrested on espionage charges during a reporting trip to Russia. In April, the State Department officially declared the reporter wrongly detained.
The Kremlin and White House have confirmed officials have been discussing a possible prisoner swap that could also involve Gershkovich. The Kremlin has stressed that these discussions remain private.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Wall Street Journal officials and Gershkovich’s family last week to discuss the status of his case — a meeting that coincided with the 100-day mark since the reporter’s incarceration began .
Despite the president’s stated commitment to a prisoner swap, Sullivan stressed last week that he didn’t want to “false hopes” about bringing the reporter home.
“We’ve… been making it clear for months – even before Evan was arrested when we were dealing with Paul Whelan – that we were willing to do hard things to get our citizens home, including Evan home.” bring,” Sullivan said. Whelan, a former Marine, was arrested in Moscow in 2018 on espionage charges that the US government has denied.
“I don’t want to give false hope,” Sullivan continued. “What the Kremlin said earlier this week is correct. There have been discussions, but those discussions haven’t produced a clear path to a solution, so I can’t stand here today and tell you that we have a clear answer as to how we’re going to get Evan home.”
Discussions about the repatriation of Americans illegally detained in Russia continued throughout much of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The White House continues to push for Whelan’s release. And last year, WNBA star Brittney Griner was released from a Russian prison and repatriated to the United States in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
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