The United States is reportedly considering a "multifaceted, multilateral" prisoner swap in an effort to free Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested in Russia in March and charged with espionage.
According to the WSJ, the U.S. is "engaging with countries that hold Russian citizens in custody, and is open to incorporating those prisoners in a deal" to free Gershkovich and other Americans detained in Russia, including Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine from Michigan who has been held for more than four years.
"U.S. officials see a prisoner exchange with Moscow as the most likely path for the U.S. to win freedom for the two men, both of whom it deems to be wrongfully detained," WSJ reported.
The U.S. is turning to its allies for help because it doesn't currently have any high-level Russian prisoners in custody that it could use for bargaining chips, according to CNN.
"U.S. officials' outreach extends to some countries that have recently arrested alleged Russian spies, including Brazil, Norway and Germany, as well as a former Soviet bloc country, to discuss the possibility of including them in any potential prisoner swaps," CNN reported.
Earlier this week, members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee introduced a resolution calling for Gershkovich's immediate release.
"Russia has no grounds to hold Evan Gershkovich prisoner, he's an innocent American journalist," the members said in a statement. "We are proud to introduce this resolution calling on the Russian government to release Evan and other wrongfully detained Americans immediately and return them to their families."
The resolution demands that Russia provide Gershkovich with full consular access while he remains in detention. It also urges the country to "respect the rights of accredited journalists to freely and independently report the news without fear" and refrain from "detaining, imprisoning, and otherwise seeking to intimidate journalists in order to curtail or censor an independent press."
The resolution also calls for the immediate release of Whelan, "who has been wrongfully detained in Russia since December 2018,” and expresses continued support for "all American citizens and lawful permanent residents detained in Russia and abroad, including Marc Fogel, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and others."
Gershkovich, 31, was arrested in Yekaterinburg on March 29 while reporting on behalf of the Wall Street Journal. On April 7, the Russian Federation charged him with espionage without publicly providing evidence of his alleged criminal action. He's currently being held in a Moscow prison, awaiting trial.
Whelan, a resident of Novi, Michigan, was arrested while in Russia for a friend's wedding in 2018 on allegations of being a spy for the U.S. He was convicted in 2020 and received a 16-year prison sentence. Whelan has adamantly denied all allegations and Russian officials have never publicly presented any evidence against him.
The U.S. attempted to secure Whelan's release last December when it brokered a deal to exchange infamous Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for American basketball star Brittney Griner, who was detained for nearly 10 months on drug-related charges -- but Russia refused to release Whelan.
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