Media reports about the readiness of the United States to consider the exchange of US citizens Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan for Russians convicted in the US for hacking are speculations, and, in matters of a possible prisoner swap, Moscow urges Washington to focus on non-public professional dialogue via a special channel only, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik.
"Once again, we call on the US to focus on non-public professional dialogue exclusively through the special channel established by the presidents of Russia and the United States in 2021," Zakharova said.
She added that the exchange of Russians Konstantin Yaroshenko and Viktor Bout for US citizens Trevor Reed and Brittney Griner had taken place thanks to such "quiet diplomacy."
"Such speculations about possible prisoner exchanges between Russia and the US regularly appear in US media. As we have repeatedly stated, this is happening solely for domestic political reasons in Washington. Apparently, for the US administration, it is not the fate of specific people that is important, but gaining political points," the diplomat said.
She also said that "instead of whipping up unnecessary hype," the US authorities should better deal with the problems and "unsatisfactory state" of the penitentiary system in the United States itself.
Gershkovich, a Moscow-based Wall Street Journal reporter, has been detained since March 29 on espionage charges that he, his employer and the US government deny.
Whelan, a former US Marine, was arrested in Moscow in December 2018 and subsequently sentenced to 16 years in prison on espionage charges. Whelan, who is also a citizen of Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom, has maintained his innocence, insisting that he came to Russia to attend a friend's wedding.