Russian minister blames US media for hindering prisoner swap talks on jailed reporter Gershkovich

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia's foreign minister blamed American journalists Wednesday for helping delay talks with his U.S. counterparts about a possible prisoner exchange involving imprisoned Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

A day before Gershkovich is scheduled to appear in court on espionage charges, Sergey Lavrov told a U.N. news conference that confidential negotiations are still “ongoing.”

Gershkovich, the Journal and the U.S. vehemently deny the allegations against him and denounce the trial as a sham and illegitimate.

On March 29, 2023, Gershkovich was arrested while on a reporting trip in Yekaterinburg, a city in the Ural Mountains. He is charged with espionage, but Russian authorities have not offered any evidence that he was gathering secret information for the United States.

If he is convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison, though Russia has indicated it is open to a prisoner swap after a verdict.

Russian courts convict more than 99% of defendants. Prosecutors can appeal sentences that they consider too lenient, and they even can appeal acquittals.

FILE - Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a glass cage in a courtroom in Yekaterinburg, Russia, June 26, 2024. The U.S. Ambassador told Russia’s foreign minister on Tuesday, July 16, that President Vladimir Putin should release detained Americans, singling out Gershkovich and ex-Marine Paul Whelan and accusing the Russian leader of continuing to treat “human beings as bargaining chips.” (AP Photo, File)

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