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Donald Trump claimed he was the only one who could persuade Russian President Vladimir. President Putin releases imprisoned Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
“Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter being held by Russia, will be released shortly after the election, but certainly before I become president,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
“He’ll be home, safe and with his family.”
“Russian President Vladimir Putin would do that for me, but not for anyone else. And we’re not going to pay anything!”
But when asked about the former Republican president’s comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: Said“Naturally, President Putin has not been in contact with Donald Trump,” Russian state news agency TASS reported.
“As for discussions regarding detainees and prisoners, we reiterate what we have repeatedly said: these discussions must be conducted in complete silence and absolute secrecy,” the Kremlin spokesman said.
“That’s the only way to be effective.”
A spokesperson for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is led out of a courtroom after a hearing in Moscow, Russia in January 2024.
AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, file
Gershkovich, a US citizen, was arrested in Russia in March last year on suspicion of espionage, a charge that he, his newspaper and the Biden administration strongly deny.
He has been in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison for over a year and no trial date has been set.
Gershkovich appealed his arrest in April, but Rejected The court also rejected an offer from Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones to provide a 50 million ruble ($600,000) guarantee.
“Evan was wrongfully detained and the espionage charges against him are false,” the Journal and Dow Jones said. In a statement“We demand his immediate release and are doing everything in our power to make that happen.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken previously said: Said He said the United States was “in close negotiations with Russia” to secure Gershkovich’s release but warned that there was “no clear path forward.”
During the period interview Speaking with Tucker Carlson in February, Putin said he believed a deal could be reached but repeated Russia’s claims that Gershkovich was spying.
There have been other prisoner exchanges between Russia and the United States in recent years, including a deal to swap basketball star Brittney Griner for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in 2022.
President Trump and President Putin shake hands before attending a joint press conference following their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki on July 16, 2018.
Yuri Kadubnov/Getty Images
This is not the first time Trump has claimed Russia would release Gershkovich. interview Trump, who has always maintained that he and Putin are “very good friends”, said in an interview with Time magazine that Gershkovich “should be released and he will be released”.
“I don’t know if he’ll be released under the Biden administration,” Trump said.
Trump expressed admiration for Putin during his presidency from 2017 to 2021. In 2018, he refused to accuse the Russian leader of meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, contrary to U.S. intelligence findings at the time.
President Trump has also boldly claimed he could end the Ukraine war within 24 hours of returning to the White House, but has not said how he would end it.