During a news conference at the United Nations, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, suggested the possibility of a prisoner exchange involving two Americans detained in Russia, Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
Mr. Lavrov stated that the channel to discuss detained American and Russian citizens was established when President Biden and Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, met in Geneva in 2021. However, the channel did not initially include journalists.
“This is work that is not public in nature and publicity here will only complicate the process,” Mr. Lavrov said at the U.N., where Russia is concluding a contentious month-long stint as president of the Security Council.
Mr. Lavrov noted that several American citizens were serving prison sentences in Russia for various crimes, but that Mr. Whelan and Mr. Gershkovich were detained “when they were committing a…
2023-04-25 19:22:41
Article from www.nytimes.com