<p>Moscow: President Vladimir Putin is not currently interested in granting an interview to <em>Wall Street Journal</em> reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was freed from Russian prison last month, nor with any other Western media outlets, the Kremlin said on Monday.</p><p>Gershkovich, who was convicted in Russia of espionage charges which he, his newspaper, and Washington strongly denied, asked the Kremlin leader for an interview as he was being released in a major East-West prisoner swap on Aug. 1, the Wall Street Journal reported.</p><p>Asked on Monday if there was an answer to Gershkovich's request, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "So far, we are not interested in such an interview.</p><p>"In order for there to be an interview with foreign media, and a specific one at that, we need to have an occasion. So far we don't see such an occasion."</p>.Trump pledges ‘100% tariff’ for countries that shun dollar.<p>Many Western journalists have quit Russia since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.</p><p>Gershkovich, who was based outside Russia but continued to travel to the country, was arrested in March 2023 in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg while on a reporting trip.</p><p>The first U.S. journalist arrested on spying charges in Russia since the Cold War, Gershkovich, was</p><p>jailed for 16 years in July after a court found him guilty of gathering secret information on the orders of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency about a company that manufactures Russian tanks sent to Ukraine.</p><p>In February, Putin gave a rare interview to U.S. journalist Tucker Carlson, in which he said Moscow was prepared to fight for its interests "to the end" but had no interest in a wider war.</p>
<p>Moscow: President Vladimir Putin is not currently interested in granting an interview to <em>Wall Street Journal</em> reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was freed from Russian prison last month, nor with any other Western media outlets, the Kremlin said on Monday.</p><p>Gershkovich, who was convicted in Russia of espionage charges which he, his newspaper, and Washington strongly denied, asked the Kremlin leader for an interview as he was being released in a major East-West prisoner swap on Aug. 1, the Wall Street Journal reported.</p><p>Asked on Monday if there was an answer to Gershkovich's request, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "So far, we are not interested in such an interview.</p><p>"In order for there to be an interview with foreign media, and a specific one at that, we need to have an occasion. So far we don't see such an occasion."</p>.Trump pledges ‘100% tariff’ for countries that shun dollar.<p>Many Western journalists have quit Russia since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.</p><p>Gershkovich, who was based outside Russia but continued to travel to the country, was arrested in March 2023 in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg while on a reporting trip.</p><p>The first U.S. journalist arrested on spying charges in Russia since the Cold War, Gershkovich, was</p><p>jailed for 16 years in July after a court found him guilty of gathering secret information on the orders of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency about a company that manufactures Russian tanks sent to Ukraine.</p><p>In February, Putin gave a rare interview to U.S. journalist Tucker Carlson, in which he said Moscow was prepared to fight for its interests "to the end" but had no interest in a wider war.</p>