The White House discusses prisoner swap for US journalist Evan Gershkovich arrested in Russia

The White House last night said there were talks about the prospect of a prisoner swap for Evan Gershkovich, “but those discussions have not resulted in a clear path to a resolution.”

This comes after media workers around the world celebrated the 100th day since Russia arrested the Wall Street Journal reporter.

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Earlier this week, the Kremlin said certain contacts between Russia and the United States on prisoner exchanges remain in place, but that these must be conducted “in complete silence.”

“As we said, certain contacts on this matter remain, but we do not wish to make them public in any way. They must be carried out and continued in complete silence,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

It was 100 days yesterday that the Wall Street Journal reporter was arrested while on duty in Yekaterinburg in the Urals.

The correspondent, arrested on “suspicion of espionage,” was transferred to the notorious Lefortovo prison near Moscow, where he has since been held in solitary confinement without trial.

His appeal against the extension of his pre-trial detention until the end of August was rejected.

The American ambassador was only allowed to visit him twice during his detention.

Gershkovich’s He is reportedly in good health and mentally well, yet the past 100 days in a tiny cell have passed excruciatingly slowly for a young man just doing his job.

Russian authorities have provided no evidence that Gershkovich was doing anything in Yekaterinburg other than gathering information to share with readers of his newspaper.