The US recently made a "substantial" offer that would have seen two Americans freed from Russian captivity, but Russia rejected the deal, a US State Department spokesperson says. The deal would have freed Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter whose detention was just extended after eight months behind bars, and Paul Whelan, the former Marine who has been detained since 2018, the BBC reports. "We have made a number of proposals, including a substantial one in recent weeks," State Department rep Matthew Miller said at a press briefing. "That proposal was rejected by Russia." He gave no further details of the proposed deal, but sources tell the Journal the deal would have involved trading prisoners.
To mark 250th day of Gershkovich's detention Monday, the Journal's editor and publisher released a statement reading, "While these moments help us collectively express our support for Evan and to highlight his case, we must also convey our outrage and continue to call for his immediate release. The passage of time dictates that we work harder than ever to sustain our efforts until Evan is free." Experts say the process of securing a deal to free Gershkovich could take more than a year; Moscow has indicated it would only be open to such a deal after a verdict is delivered in his case. Whelan, whom Russia in 2020 sentenced to 16 years, was recently attacked by another inmate at the Russian prison where he's detained, NBC News reports. (More Russia stories.)
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