The Kremlin said Monday that it would not grant an interview with President Vladimir Putin to Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was released by Russia this summer in a prisoner swap.
Gershkovich made a hand-written request to interview Putin while filling out a form requesting a presidential pardon ahead of the prisoner exchange, the Journal reported.
"So far we are not interested in such an interview. For there to be an interview with foreign media and some specific one, we need to have an occasion," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"So far we don't see such an occasion," he said.
Gershkovich was one of 16 people freed by Russia in August's landmark prisoner swap with the West.
The 32-year-old spent more than 16 months in Russian detention on espionage charges that he, his employer and the White House denounced as false.
The Kremlin has repeatedly rebuffed calls for a Western journalist to question Putin, granting only one such interview, to the controversial US talk show host Tucker Carlson in February.
Gershkovich, a respected Moscow correspondent, was arrested on a reporting trip in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg in March 2023.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Featured Video Of The Day
Assassin, Journalist, Critic: Who Were Freed In Russia-West Prisoner Swap Russia Frees Jailed US Reporter In Major Prisoner Swap With West, Says Turkey Russia Jails US-Russian Journalist Alsu Kurmasheva For Over 6 Years "Lower Your Pitch": Chief Justice Rebukes Lawyer, He Apologises Wait A Few Days: Mamata Banerjee On Calls For Kolkata Police Chief's Dismissal California State Senator Used Her Male Chief Of Staff As Sex Slave: Lawsuit UP Jail Inmate Found Hanging In Prison, Woman Claims Husband Was "Killed" Ranchi Girl, 13, Trafficked To Lucknow, Raped By Truck Driver: Cops iPhone Production In India To Reach 25% Of Global Shipments By 2025: Report Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.