The Kremlin quickly shot down Donald Trump's boast that he could free a Wall Street journalist Evan Gershkovich imprisoned in Russia if he won the presidential election.
The former president, who often praises Vladimir Putin and has voiced doubts about U.S. support for Ukraine, said that the Russian leader "will do that for me, but not for anyone else."
Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social that Gershkovich "will be released almost immediately after the election, but definitely before I assume office."
But Trump couldn't have any idea about what Russia might do regarding Gershkovich because the Kremlin has had no contact with the former president regarding the prisoner, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Reuters reported. Nor has he spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin has "naturally not had contacts with Donald Trump," Peskov told reporters.
In any case, no one negotiating for Gershkovic's release would discuss it because such talks would be held in "total secrecy," Peskov emphasized.
"Regarding [US-Russian] contacts on the matter of incarcerated and convicted individuals, we can say that these contacts must be carried out in total secrecy. This is the only way they can be effective," he explained.
Trump's comments were ridiculed by President Joe Biden's campaign, which cited Trump's frequent criticism of the news media as an "enemy of the people" — and his often expressed extremely high regard for Putin, reported the Guardian.
Trump has called Putin's invasion of Ukraine a "work of genius," and he told a Bronx Rally on Thursday that the deadly Russian leader was "at the top of his game."
"Donald Trump doesn't give a damn about the innocent Americans unjustly imprisoned by Vladimir Putin," Biden campaign adviser T.J. Ducklo wrote in an email to the Guardian.
In late 2023, the Biden administration announced that it had made a "significant proposal" to Russia to secure Gershkovich's release, likely as part of a prisoner swap, but that Moscow rejected it.
Gershkovich, 32, has been detained in Moscow's infamous Lefortovo prison for over a year following his arrest while on a reporting assignment.
