Russian authorities have reiterated on a couple of occasions that Gershkovich was caught “red-handed” by the Federal Security Service, a position the Kremlin and its representatives have mentioned from the beginning of the case

This Monday, the U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Lynn Tracy, managed to hold a meeting with Evan Gershkovich, correspondent of The Wall Street Journal who is detained in Russian territory for alleged espionage work. According to Moscow, the American could face up to 20 years in prison for these accusations.

Last week the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, assured that the detention of the American journalist and correspondent of The Wall Street Journal, Evan Gershkovich, was not detained by a direct order from the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin. On the same day the Russian authorities admitted that they have not given permission to the U.S. Consulate in Moscow for their representatives to visit Evan Gershkovic.

Now this Monday the U.S. diplomat stated that the reporter feels well and remains strong, despite the detention that has been labeled as unjust by the White House. “Today I visited Evan Gershkovich in Lefortovo prison, this is the first time we have been given access to him since his illegal detention over two weeks ago,” Tracy noted on Twitter.

Russian authorities have reiterated on a couple of occasions that Gershkovich was caught “red-handed” by the Federal Security Service, a position the Kremlin and its representatives have mentioned since the beginning of the case. In view of this, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Riabkov stated that the option of conducting a prisoner exchange with the United States is not yet in the picture. “It can be considered after a court says Gershkovich’s sentence,” he said.

The United States and Russia had a recent prisoner exchange in which they swapped Russian arms dealer Viktor But, known as the Merchant of Death, for American basketball player Brittney Griner who was being held for alleged cannabis trafficking last December 2022.

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