@nytimes: During his year-end news conference in Moscow on Thursday, President Vladimir Putin of Russia said the Russian government was engaged in a “difficult” dialogue with U.S. authorities over the possible release of two Americans detained in Russia — Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, and Paul Whelan, a former Marine and corporate executive. Gershkovich was arrested in March on an espionage charge that he, his newspaper and the U.S. government have vehemently denied. Whelan is serving a 16-year sentence on espionage charges that the United States has also called politically motivated. “We want to make a deal, but it should be mutually acceptable to both sides,” Putin said, in his first remarks about Gershkovich’s arrest. He spoke just hours after a Moscow court upheld the detention of Gershkovich with a ruling that will leave the journalist — who has been held for 260 days — in custody until at least the end of January.

The New York Times

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Thursday 14 December 2023 18:03:56 GMT