Donald Trump claims immediate release of US journalist by Vladimir Putin if elected

US journalist Evan Gershkovich has been held in Russia since 2023, but Donald Trump has claimed that he will be "immediately" released if Trump wins the upcoming election

Donald Trump is vowing that the captive US Journalist, Evan Gershkovich, will be "immediately" released from his Russian imprisonment if Trump secures the election win. The 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter found himself in strife when he was detained during a reporting trip in late March 2023.

He has now spent over a year behind bars, with authorities continuously extending his incarceration and consistently turning down his appeals. Things looked grim when his pretrial detention got prolonged again, until June 30, last month, despite him and his legal representatives challenging the ruling.

Unfortunately for Gershkovich, his troubles didn't end there, as a Moscow court of appeal refused to budge on the decision. Both the journalist and his employer rebuff the allegations against him, and the US government itself has determined that he's wrongfully imprisoned.

Adding fuel to an already smoky fire, former president Trump asserts that Gershkovich will find himself freed "almost immediately" should Trump emerge victorious in November. According to Trump, this favor will come straight from Vladimir Putin who allegedly stated, "I'll do it for Trump, not for anyone else," reports the Mirror.

Adding to his bold declarations on Truth Social, Trump said: "Evan Gershkovich, the Reporter from The Wall Street Journal, who is being held by Russia, will be released almost immediately after the Election, but definitely before I assume Office. He will be HOME, SAFE, AND WITH HIS FAMILY. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, will do that for me, but not for anyone else, and WE WILL BE PAYING NOTHING!."

Experts have noted that Moscow might be leveraging detained Americans as pawns amidst escalating tensions between the US and Russia due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. This includes at least two Americans who were arrested in Russia and later swapped for Russians incarcerated in the States, such as WNBA icon Brittney Griner.

In December, the US State Department announced it had proposed a substantial deal to secure the freedom of Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, another American jailed in Russia on spying charges, which was reportedly turned down by Moscow.

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The specifics of the offer weren't disclosed, but there's speculation that Russia wants Vadim Krasikov released. Krasikov is serving a life sentence in Germany for the murder of Zelimkhan "Tornike" Khangoshvili, a Georgian national of Chechen origin who fought against Russian forces in Chechnya and later sought asylum in Germany.

When questioned about the possibility of freeing Gershkovich earlier this year, Russian President Putin seemed to allude to Krasikov by mentioning a man imprisoned by an ally of the US for "liquidating a bandit" who was accused of killing Russian soldiers during separatist conflicts in Chechnya.

Gershkovich is the first American reporter to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since September 1986, when Nicholas Daniloff, a Moscow correspondent for US News and World Report, was arrested by the KGB. Daniloff was released without charge 20 days later in a swap for an employee of the Soviet Union's UN mission who was arrested by the FBI, also on spying charges.

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