Fox News reported that Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich, who was convicted in Russia on espionage charges, may return to the United States on August 1 as part of a prisoner exchange.
"The Wall Street Journal reports that its reporter will return to the United States tomorrow as part of a prisoner exchange," the news anchor announced around midnight on July 31, local time.
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This information was provided by Jennifer Griffin, Fox News' chief national security correspondent at the Pentagon. No further details were given.
Russia has sentenced dozens to lengthy prison terms for opposing the Kremlin and Moscow's military offensive against Ukraine, drawing scorn and demands for them to be freed by the West.
Recently, about ten political prisoners reportedly have been moved from Russian colonies to an unknown location.
These include former Navalny headquarters coordinators, "Memorial" co-chairman Oleg Orlov, politicians Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Murza, former US Marine Paul Whelan, among others. Lawyers are unaware of their clients' whereabouts.
Human rights activists speculate that this mass transfer could be in preparation for a group exchange.
"Apparently, we are on the cusp of a very large-scale exchange," Russian political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya said Tuesday on Telegram.
The Kremlin does not typically make statements on the progress of potential prisoner swaps, which are usually announced without warning.
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"We do not comment on this topic," spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by the Vedomosti newspaper.
On July 19, the Sverdlovsk Regional Court sentenced Evan Gershkovich, who had been detained for a year, to 16 years in a high-security prison.
Investigators claimed Gershkovich, "on the instructions of the CIA," gathered secret information about the Uralvagonzavod defense enterprise in March 2023.
The court session lasted less than an hour. Gershkovich's recent whereabouts are unknown, but Slovenian TV channel N1 suggested he would be part of the exchange.
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