Trump Says His Relationship With Putin Will Help Free Jailed WSJ Reporter Evan Gershkovich

Former President Donald Trump said his relationship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin would help secure the release of Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter detained in a Moscow jail for more than a year.

In a post on his Truth Social platform on Thursday, Trump said that Gershkovich, whom the U.S. State Department deems wrongfully held, would be released almost immediately after the presidential election “but definitely before I assume office.”

“Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, will do that for me, but not for anyone else, and WE WILL BE PAYING NOTHING!” the post said.

The Kremlin responded to the former president’s assertion saying “there is no contact between Putin and Trump on this matter.”

A spokesperson for Biden’s presidential campaign, TJ Ducklo, said the president is committed to bringing Gershkovich and other wrongfully detained Americans home. “Their release remains an urgent priority,” he said. “For Joe Biden, they are human beings whose loved ones and family members he has spent time with.”

Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, detained Gershkovich, who was accredited to work as a journalist by Russia’s Foreign Ministry, on March 29 last year while he was on a reporting assignment in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg.

He is being held on an allegation of espionage that he, the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny. Russian investigators haven’t publicly presented evidence to back up their allegation against the 32-year-old reporter. Russia has said that it is acting in accordance with its laws.

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Russian president, on Thursday repeated his request for silence on the issue, which Russian officials have said is being handled through a dedicated, confidential channel between Moscow and Washington.

“Any contact regarding those imprisoned or convicted must be carried out in complete silence and in a discreet manner,” Peskov said. “That is the only way to make it productive.”

The U.S. hasn’t commented on the channel but has said it is preparing a new proposal for a deal to secure Gershkovich’s release.

It is the second time in recent weeks that Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has publicly commented on the reporter’s situation. In an interview with Time Magazine in April, he said: “The reporter should be released and he will be released.”

Asked by Time why he hadn’t called for Gershkovich’s release earlier, Trump said: “I guess because I have so many other things I’m working on. I have hundreds of things.”

“And I probably have said very good things about him,” Trump added. “Maybe it wasn’t reported. I think he’s a very brave young man.”

Trump, who has often touted his relationship with Putin, also did so in that interview, saying it set him apart from Biden. “Here’s the difference between me and Biden: I’ll get him released,” Trump said. “Putin’s going to release him,” he added, referring to Gershkovich.

Objections to Gershkovich’s imprisonment have been resoundingly bipartisan. Biden said last year the U.S. government was “fighting every day” to secure the release of Gershkovich and other U.S. citizens wrongfully detained overseas.

The U.S. State Department declared Gershkovich wrongfully detained in record time following his arrest. The designation commits the U.S. government to working toward his release.

The only other U.S. citizen declared wrongfully held in Russia is Paul Whelan, a former corporate-security executive who earlier served in the Marines and is now serving a 16-year sentence in Russia for an espionage conviction that he, his family and the U.S. government say was based on false allegations.

Last December, U.S. negotiators said they had made a fresh offer to Russia to secure the release of Gershkovich and Whelan but Moscow rejected the American proposal. The offer involved trading prisoners, people familiar with the matter said, but they didn’t offer further details.

Russian officials haven’t publicly acknowledged receiving that offer.

Write to Ann M. Simmons at [email protected] and Joanna Sugden at [email protected]