Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed this Thursday in his long annual press conference that he hopes to reach an agreement with the United States to release Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gerhskovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan from Russian prisons in a possible prisoner exchange. Putin assured that he hopes to reach an agreement “satisfactory for both parties.”
Russia arrested Moscow correspondent Gershkovich in March on charges of espionage. Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal and the White House have denied that he is a spy or that he works for the US government. More complicated is the case of Navy veteran Paul Whelan, who was arrested in 2018 and convicted of spying for the United States in 2020. He is sentenced to 16 years in prison. Both Whelan, who was recently attacked in his prison, and the US government deny the charges.
It is not known what conditions Russia has set for both cases. “It is not simple, I will not go into details now, but in general it seems to me that we speak a language that is understandable to everyone. I hope that we will find a solution. But, I repeat, the American side must listen to us and make an appropriate decision, which suits the Russian side,” Putin declared in response to a question from a journalist from The New York Times.
The US State Department said on December 5 that Russia had rejected a new proposal for his release in recent weeks. Gershkovich appeared in court to appeal last month’s ruling that extended his detention until January 30. Moscow claims that Gershkovich was “caught red-handed” but has yet to present any evidence to support this. In the past, Russia has taken advantage of exchanges of ordinary US citizens to free world-class Russian criminals.
MESSAGES AGAINST PUTIN
The questions to Vladimir Putin are not spontaneous, but not everything is under control. Several messages sent by citizens at the president’s year-end press conference were unexpectedly critical of the Russian leader and the current state of affairs in the country. A viewer asked: “Hello, how is it possible to move to the Russia they talk about on the first public television channel [the equivalent of TVE]?” Despite that apparent reference to Russian state television propaganda, the question appeared in huge letters on a giant screen next to the president.
“We gave gas to China, we gave gas to Europe, but when will there be gas in Khakassia?” another viewer asked in his message, referring to the distant Siberian republic of Khakassia. “Tell us, when will our lives get better?” wrote another.
One question touched on the issue of war, which the Russians are not even allowed to call by name: “When will the mobilized [soldiers] be released? Why should 300,000 people from all over the country serve?”
Russia imposes severe restrictions on all messages about the war. Last night, on social media, analysts and spectators discussed whether the irreverent messages displayed at the event were sparks of rebellion not detected in time or a crack deliberately opened to increase media coverage of the event.