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Russia doesn’t need third countries in picture in potential swap of Gershkovich, Whelan

It was noted that it is incorrect to consider Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan on the same plane in terms of the exchange "because the issue of trading anyone can be examined only after a court delivers its verdict specifically on this or that case, this or that charge"

MOSCOW, April 13. /TASS/. Russia is not interested in bringing third countries into the discussion about a possible exchange of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich or US national Paul Whelan, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS on Thursday.

"We are absolutely not interested in this. We have a functioning channel, in the past it was used to reach specific agreements; these agreements have been implemented so third countries don’t play a part here," he said.

The senior diplomat noted that it is incorrect to consider Gershkovich and Whelan on the same plane in terms of the exchange "because the issue of trading anyone can be examined only after a court delivers its verdict specifically on this or that case, this or that charge."

On April 8, the Wall Street Journal reported that the US administration did not rule out that third countries could be engaged in discussing the cases of Americans Gershkovich and Whelan and that the US "is open to creative solutions to reach a deal."

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 ("Espionage"). Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry 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, Whelan, who has US, UK, Canadian and Irish citizenship, was taken into custody by the FSB from a room at Moscow’s Metropol Hotel while on an alleged spy mission. The FSB opened a criminal case against him on charges of espionage under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code. On June 15, 2020, the Moscow City Court found Whelan guilty of spying against Russia and sentenced him to 16 years in a high-security colony.

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