Russia announced on Wednesday that it was awaiting a response from the United States to its “ideas” for an exchange of prisoners, comments coming one week before the start of the trial for “espionage” of American journalist Evan Gershkovich, incarcerated for fifteen months. This 32-year-old reporter is due to be tried starting June 26 in Yekaterinburg. The Russian authorities had already admitted to negotiating an exchange which would allow the release of Evan Gershkovich whom they present as being a spy for the CIA, which the United States, his relatives and his employer, the daily The Wall Street Journalreject, emphasizing that he was arrested in the middle of reporting.
Questioned by the TASS news agency, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov revealed for the first time that Moscow had made a proposal to Washington but he did not want to provide further details.
Since Thursday, Vladimir Putin has been making a state visit to Vietnam, to which Russia has supplied weapons for decades, the day after the signing of a defense agreement with North Korea which worries the West. He arrived in Hanoi during the night of Wednesday to Thursday, coming from Pyongyang.
The master of the Kremlin thanked Hanoi for its “balanced” approach to Ukraine, in a column published in the newspaper of the ruling Communist Party (PCV). Russia and Vietnam also share a “similar” reading of the situation in the Asia-Pacific, he argued.
Hello everyone. Like every day, the editorial staff of 20 minutes is mobilized to give you all the information on the conflict. This Thursday, Vladimir Putin is in Vietnam. The master of the Kremlin is on a state visit there after being received in North Korea by his ally Kim Jong-un.