Former President Donald Trump said Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will be released from Russian prison “almost immediately” after the November election — if he beats President Biden.
“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,” Mr. Trump wrote Thursday on Truth Social.
“Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, will do that for me, but not for anyone else, and WE WILL BE PAYING NOTHING!” he said.
Mr. Trump didn’t say how or why Mr. Putin would agree to free Mr. Gershkovich. The reporter was arrested in March 2023 for espionage while on assignment. He has lost multiple appeals to be freed.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday that Mr. Putin “has naturally not had contacts with Donald Trump,” according to Reuters.
The U.S. and The Wall Street Journal have condemned Mr. Gershkovich’s detainment and maintain he’s done nothing wrong.
Mr. Trump has said before that Mr. Gershkovich should be let out of prison. In his Time magazine interview from April, the former president said he gets “along very well with Putin, but the reporter should be released and he will be released.”
