Putin ‘ready to talk’ as he hints at prisoner swap for jailed US journalist Evan Gershkovich

Vladimir Putin says Russia is ready to hold negotiations over a prisoner exchange that could see the release of US journalist Evan Gershkovich.

Talking to Tucker Carlson in an interview in Moscow, the Russian president said his regime was open to talks but repeatedly pushed an unverifiable claim that the Wall Street Journal reporter was guilty of espionage.

«He was caught red-handed when he was secretly getting classified information,» Mr Putin said of Mr Gershkovich, adding that he doesn’t exclude that the reporter could return home.

The Wall Street Journal and US news outlets have strongly denied any wrongdoing by Mr Gershkovich and said his activities fell strictly within the remit of legitimate journalism.

Putin dangled the prospect of releasing Mr Gershkovich in exchange for the Russian agent and FSB assassin Vadim Krasikov, who is currently in prison in Germany after killing a Georgian military officer in a Berlin park in 2019.

Claiming that there is “no taboo” on settling the issue of the 32-year-old reporter’s release, the Russian president said, «We are ready to solve it but there are certain conditions being discussed between special services. They are talking… I believe an agreement can be reached.”

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, right, is escorted from the Lefortovsky court in Moscow, Russia.

This is the first time Mr Putin has addressed the US journalist’s arrest by Russian authorities.

Mr Gershkovich was detained in March last year during a reporting trip to the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, about 2,000km (1,200 miles) east of Moscow.

Russia’s Federal Security Service alleged that the reporter, “acting on the instructions of the American side, collected information constituting a state