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When the Kremlin decided to let a western journalist sit down for an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time in several years, it wasn’t particularly surprising that Tucker Carlson was the choice. He hasn’t exactly been a strident Putin critic, even given Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.
But while the interview ended up being more of a rambling attempt at a history lesson from the Russian president with Carlson along for the ride, the former Fox host did press Putin on one very important point: the ongoing wrongful detention of U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich.
“Evan Gershkovich, who’s the Wall Street Journal reporter. He’s 32 and he’s been in prison for almost a year. This is a huge story in the United States, and I just want to ask you directly without getting into the details or your version of what happened, if as a sign of your decency, you would be willing to release him to us and we’ll bring him back to the United States,” Carlson said to Putin during the interview.
If anyone is waiting on Putin’s decency, as he continues to invade a neighbor and his government criminalizes things like journalism or protesting, they may be waiting a long time. The recent death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was being held at a prison in the Arctic, underscores this.
But Putin’s response to Carlson — while cold, calculating and factually challenged on some of the substance — did provide some hope about ongoing conversations to bring Gershkovich home.
“There is no taboo to settle this issue. We are willing to solve it,” Putin told Carlson. “I believe an agreement can be reached.”
Evan Gershkovich, a 2014 graduate of Bowdoin College, is a journalist, not a spy. He has denied the allegations, as have his employer the Wall Street Journal and the U.S. government, which considers him to be wrongfully detained.
While Putin was unsurprisingly committed to his party line in terms of leaning into unproven, repeatedly denied allegations as fact, he also seems committed to (or at least open to) some sort of deal at some point. U.S. officials must do everything possible to help that deal happen soon, and to secure the release of long-detained businessman Paul Whelan and journalist Alsu Kurmasheva as well. Kurmasheva, a dual American-Russian citizen and editor for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, has like Gershkovich been treated like a criminal simply for being a journalist.
These prisoner swaps with Russia and other nations that are wrongfully detaining Americans can feel less than ideal, to be sure, but as demonstrated with the swap that returned U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, the exchanges are better than the alternative. Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, was unfortunately not included in that previous deal, and he should not be left out again.
“Our intensive efforts to bring Paul home continue every single day. And they will until he and Evan Gershkovich and every other American wrongfully detained [are] back with their loved ones,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said recently. Whelan didn’t sound so confident in comments to the BBC in December.
“I know the U.S. [has] all sorts of proposals, but it’s not what the Russians want,” Whelan said. “They go back and forth, like throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks.”
U.S. officials must do what they can to get the negotiations to stick, in each of these cases. The death of Navalny tragically underscores the rank injustice in Russian systems, and emphasizes the need to get others out as soon as possible.
Putin’s response to Carlson, while colored with the usual propaganda, provided some hope that this will be possible with continued negotiation.
“We’re encouraged to see Russia’s desire for a deal that brings Evan home, and we hope this will lead to his rapid release and return to his family and our newsroom,” the Wall Street Journal said in a statement after Carlson’s interview with Putin.
“I hope you let him out,” Carlson told Putin. We continue to hope the same, for Evan Gershkovich, for Paul Whelan, for Alsu Kurmasheva, and for all wrongfully detained Americans across the globe.
