Exchanging Detained WSJ Reporter With United States Not On Table Yet - Russian Diplomat

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 30th March, 2023) The question of exchanging Wall Street Journal Moscow bureau correspondent Evan Gershkovich, who was detained in the city of Yekaterinburg, with the US is not on the table yet, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said that Gershkovich was detained in Yekaterinburg on a suspicion of espionage for the US. On instructions from Washington, Gershkovich collected classified information about the activities of one of Russian military-industrial complex firms, the FSB said.

� He was detained in Yekaterinburg while trying to obtain secret information.

"I would not raise a question in this regard at all now because, you know, some exchanges that took place in the past took place for people who were already serving sentences," Ryabkov told reporters when asked if the detained journalist can become a candidate for an exchange with the United States.