Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich requested an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin upon being released from a Russian prison where he had been held for over 16 months.
On Thursday, in a form he had to complete before his release was finalized that mandated him to request presidential clemency, Gershkovich asked whether he could interview Putin.
The WSJ reported, “The last line submitted a proposal of its own: After his release, would Putin be willing to sit down for an interview?"
Putin agreed to release 16 prisoners in exchange for eight Russians being held in the West. Gershkovich was freed alongside former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, five Germans, and seven Russian citizens who were taken hostage as political prisoners.
The Russian Federation had a few final items of protocol to tick through with the man who had become its most famous prisoner. One, he would be allowed to leave with the papers he’d penned in detention, the letters he’d scrawled out and the makings of a book he’d labored over. But first, they had another piece of writing they required from him, an official request for presidential clemency. The text, moreover, should be addressed to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.
The pro forma printout included a long blank space the prison could fill out if desired, or simply, as expected, leave blank. In the formal high Russian he had honed over 16 months imprisonment, the Journal’s Russia correspondent filled the page. The last line submitted a proposal of his own: After his release, would Putin be willing to sit down for an interview? via the WSJ.
Gershkovich was detained in 2023 while working as a reporter for the WSJ. He was charged with espionage charges, which critics say should have been dismissed as fraud. At the time of his arrest, the outlet was ironically covering Russia’s “hostage-taking spree.”
Former President Donald Trump criticized President Joe Biden’s deal with Russia, saying Americans were freed under his administration without negotiating an agreement with the opposing party.
So when are they going to release the details of the prisoner swap with Russia? How many people do we get versus them? Are we also paying them cash? Are they giving us cash (Please withdraw that question, because I’m sure the answer is NO)? Are we releasing murderers, killers, or…
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) August 1, 2024