NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA / AFP
US journalist Evan Gershkovich, arrested on espionage charges, shapes a heart with his hands inside a defendants’ cage after a hearing to consider an appeal on his extended pre-trial detention, at the first court of appeal in Moscow on April 23, 2024 A Moscow court rejected an appeal by jailed Gershkovich against the extension of his pre-trial detention until June 30. (Photo by Natalia KOLESNIKOVA / AFP)
INTERNATIONAL – Donald Trump should not have eaten too much melon. After affirming that it could free the American journalist Evan Gershkovich imprisoned in Russia for more than a year, the Kremlin completely rebuffed the former president this Thursday, May 23.
“Evan Gershkovich, the journalist from Wall Street Journal, held by Russia, will be released almost immediately after the election, but certainly before I take office. He will be home, safe and with his family.”wrote the Republican candidate on Truth Social this Thursday.
“Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, will do this for me, but for no one else, and we will pay nothing!” »added the one who is once again a Republican presidential candidate and who does not hide his admiration for Vladimir Putin.
“There is no contact with Donald Trump”
But when questioned on the subject, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov did not agree with the billionaire. “There is no contact with Donald Trump”he swept away the same day. “Relations between the United States and Russia regarding those imprisoned and convicted must be conducted with complete discretion. This is the only way they can be effective.”he added.
Donald Trump is accustomed to nonsense. In particular, he has stated several times that he could end in one day the war in Ukraine, which Russia invaded two years ago.
Evan Gershkovich was arrested by the Russian security services (FSB) while reporting in Yekaterinburg, in the Urals, in March 2023. He is accused of espionage, a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a unprecedented severity since the end of the USSR concerning a foreign journalist. Russia has never substantiated its accusations or publicly provided evidence, and the entire procedure has been classified.
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