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Kremlin declines to comment on sanctions mitigation in exchange for release of US citizens

According to the Public Relations Center of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Evan Gershkovich, "acting at the behest of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of an enterprise within Russia’s military-industrial complex"

MOSCOW, May 12. /TASS/. Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on reports that the United States is considering softening its anti-Russian sanctions as a bargaining chip to gain the release of American nationals arrested and held in Russia.

"We will have no comments whatsoever on this topic," he said.

CNN said on Thursday, citing sources in the Biden administration, that the White House was looking at the option of softening its anti-Russian sanctions as a means of securing the release of a number of US citizens currently in custody in Russia. According to the television channel, Washington is also now in talks with its allies regarding the potential inclusion of Russian citizens currently incarcerated in these countries in any future prisoner swap deal with Russia. Moreover, the accent of these discussions is specifically on Russian nationals who have been charged with espionage. The key goal, CNN said, is to bring home Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who is being held in custody in Russia on espionage charges, as well as Paul Whelan, who is now imprisoned after being convicted on the same charges.

According to the Public Relations Center of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Evan Gershkovich, "acting at the behest of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of an enterprise within Russia’s military-industrial complex." The reporter was detained in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg. FSB investigators opened a criminal case against the US citizen under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code (RCC) ("Espionage"). At that time, Peskov said that the journalist had been "caught red-handed." On March 30, Moscow’s Lefortovo District Court ordered that Gershkovich be held in custody until May 29.

On December 28, 2018, Paul Whelan, who holds US, UK, Canadian and Irish citizenship, was detained by the FSB in a room at the Metropol Hotel in downtown Moscow while on an alleged spy mission. The FSB charged him with espionage also under Article 276 of the RCC. On June 15, 2020, the Moscow City Court found Whelan guilty of spying against Russia and sentenced him to serve 16 years in a maximum security prison.

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