Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a glass cage in a courtroom on the Moscow City Court in Moscow, Russia, June 22.

Dmitry Serebryakov/AP

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Dmitry Serebryakov/AP

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a glass cage in a courtroom on the Moscow City Court in Moscow, Russia, June 22.

Dmitry Serebryakov/AP

MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin on Tuesday held the door open for contacts with the U.S. concerning a attainable prisoner trade that might probably contain jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, however reaffirmed that such talks should be held out of the general public eye.

Asked whether or not Monday’s consular visits to Gershkovich, who has been held behind bars in Moscow since March on costs of espionage, and Vladimir Dunaev, a Russian citizen in U.S. custody on cybercrime costs, may probably herald a prisoner swap, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned that Moscow and Washington have touched on the difficulty.

“We have said that there have been certain contacts on the subject, but we don’t want them to be discussed in public,” Peskov mentioned in a convention name with reporters. “They must be carried out and continue in complete silence.”

He did not provide any additional particulars, however added that “the lawful right to consular contacts must be ensured on both sides.”

The U.S. Ambassador to Moscow, Lynne Tracy, on Monday was allowed to go to Gershkovich for the primary time since April. The U.S. Embassy didn’t instantly present extra info.

The 31-year-old Gershkovich was arrested within the metropolis of Yekaterinburg whereas on a reporting journey to Russia. He is being held at Moscow’s Lefortovo jail, infamous for its harsh circumstances. A Moscow courtroom final week upheld a ruling to maintain him in custody till Aug. 30.

Gershkovich and his employer deny the allegations, and the U.S. authorities declared him to be wrongfully detained. His arrest rattled journalists in Russia the place authorities haven’t offered any proof to assist the espionage costs.

Gershkovich is the primary American reporter to face espionage costs in Russia since September 1986, when Nicholas Daniloff, a Moscow correspondent for U.S. News and World Report, was arrested by the KGB. Daniloff was launched 20 days later in a swap for an worker of the Soviet Union’s U.N. mission who was arrested by the FBI, additionally on spying costs.

Dunaev was extradited from South Korea on the U.S. cybercrime costs and is in detention in Ohio. Russian diplomats had been granted consular entry to him on Monday for the primary time since his arrest in 2021, Nadezhda Shumova, the top of the Russian Embassy’s consular part, mentioned in remarks carried by the Tass information company.