A Kremlin spokesperson said Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin did not personally approve the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, despite reports to the contrary in Western media. On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that Putin greenlit the arrest of U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich in Russia last month on suspicion of espionage. “It’s not the president’s prerogative,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday. “It’s up to the special services, who are doing their job.” Separately, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told state media that Russia might be open to another prisoner swap deal with the U.S. “We have a working channel that was used in the past to achieve concrete agreements, and these agreements were fulfilled,” Ryabkov said, adding that Moscow would only enter negotiations if Gershkovich is convicted. On Monday, the U.S. government formally declared that it considered Gershkovich “wrongfully detained.”
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