MINSK, December 14. /TASS/. Russia is disappointed that the United States is choosing to publicly comment on the prisoner exchange dialogue, as this runs counter to relevant agreements, Director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service Sergey Naryshkin told journalists.

"Such a dialogue is maintained but under an agreement with the American side we don’t comment on it," he said when asked by TASS about allegations that Moscow has turned down Washington’s new proposal on the exchange of US citizens Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich. "I regret that the American side by way of the Department of State has failed to observe this agreement."

The Russian President said during his combined Direct Line Q&A session and year-end press conference earlier in the day that Russia is talking to the United States about a prisoner exchange and hopes to find a solution that will be acceptable for both sides. He noted however that this dialogue was not an easy one.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was detained in the Russian Urals city of Yekaterinburg in late March. According to 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." FSB investigators filed charges against the US citizen under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code (RCC) ("Espionage"). If found guilty, Gershkoviich could face a prison term of up to 20 years. The journalist maintains his innocence.

Paul Whelan, who holds US, UK, Canadian and Irish citizenship, was detained in late December 2018 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. The Moscow City Court has found Whelan guilty of spying against Russia and sentenced him to serve 16 years in a maximum security prison.