The Russian international minister hints of a potential prisoner swap for Gershkovich.

Russia’s international minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, hinted on Tuesday at the potential of a prisoner swap involving two Americans detained in Russia, Paul Whelan and the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

Speaking at a wide-ranging news convention on the United Nations, Mr. Lavrov stated the channel to debate detained American and Russian residents was created when President Biden and Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, met in Geneva in 2021. Back then, Mr. Lavrov stated, the channel didn’t present “for the involvement of journalists.”

“This is work that is not public in nature and publicity here will only complicate the process,” Mr. Lavrov stated on the U.N., the place Russia is wrapping up a contentious monthlong stint as president of the Security Council, a rotating place.

Mr. Lavrov stated that a number of American residents had been serving jail sentences in Russia for numerous crimes, however that Mr. Whelan and Mr. Gershkovich had been detained “when they were committing a crime, receiving material” that he maintained consisted of state secrets and techniques.

Russia has offered no proof of such expenses towards Mr. Gershkovich. Mr. Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, was detained minutes after he was handed a USB stick by a Russian acquaintance that Russia maintains contained a categorized listing of its safety brokers. The Biden administration has categorized each males as “wrongfully detained,” tantamount to being political prisoners.

Mr. Lavrov stated Russia rejected the notion that journalists didn’t commit crimes, apparently making reference to the phrase “journalism is not a crime” that press advocacy teams typically quote in campaigns to launched detained journalists world wide, like Mr. Gershkovich.

Mr. Gershkovich, who was on a reporting journey within the metropolis of Yekaterinburg, was detained on March 29 and accused of espionage, a cost that his employer and the United States emphatically reject. He was formally charged on April 7, and stays in custody at Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison, a detention middle the place inmates are held in isolation and obtain solely uncommon visits from attorneys.

Mr. Whelan was detained in December 2018, then tried and convicted. He is serving a 16-year jail sentence.

The United States has agreed to prisoner swaps with Russia lately to free detained Americans — most notably for the W.N.B.A. star Brittney Griner, in December, and Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine, in April 2022.