U.S. and Russia Pursue Secret Prisoner Swap Talks, Russian Diplomat Says


一位俄罗斯高级外交官周四表示，美国和俄罗斯正在通过一个秘密渠道讨论交换囚犯的问题，其中可能包括释放被监禁的《华尔街日报》记者埃文·格什科维奇。


2月，在莫斯科法院举行听证会之前，《华尔街日报》记者埃文·格什科维奇从被告笼内向外张望。

一位俄罗斯高级外交官周四表示，美国和俄罗斯正在通过一个秘密渠道讨论换囚问题，其中可能包括释放《华尔街日报》(The Wall Street Journal)记者埃文·格什科维奇(Evan Gershkovich)。 6park.com
The U.S. and Russia are using a confidential channel to discuss the issue of exchanging prisoners that could include the release of jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, a senior Russian diplomat said Thursday. 6park.com
    
据俄罗斯国家通讯社塔斯社(TASS)报道，俄罗斯外交部副部长里亚布科夫(Sergei Ryabkov)向记者表示：“有关这一话题的对话正通过一个专门的封闭渠道进行”，但他说自己无权就信息交换或“通过这一渠道传递的信号”发表评论。 6park.com
Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, told reporters that “dialogue on this topic is being conducted through a specialized closed channel,” but said he wasn’t authorized to comment on the exchange of information or “the signals that pass through this channel,” Russia’s state news agency TASS reported. 6park.com
   
之前有报道称美国正准备提出交换格什科维奇和美国人保罗·惠兰(Paul Whelan)的新提议，里亚布科夫是在回答与该报道相关的问题时作出上述回应的。格什科维奇因间谍指控已在俄罗斯被拘一年多，而他本人、《华尔街日报》和美国政府都强烈否认这一指控；前海军陆战队员、密歇根企业安全主管惠兰则因间谍罪被判处16年徒刑，他和他的家人均表示这些指控不实。 6park.com
Ryabkov was responding to a question on reports that the U.S. is preparing a new proposal to exchange Gershkovich, who has been detained in Russia for over a year on an espionage allegation that he, The Wall Street Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny, and American Paul Whelan, a former Marine and corporate-security executive. Whelan is serving a 16-year sentence for espionage that he and his family say is false. 6park.com
   
美国国务院人质事务总统特使办公室不予置评。 6park.com
The U.S. office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs declined to comment on Ryabkov’s remarks. 6park.com
  
在里亚布科夫发表上述言论一周前，美国人质事务首席外交官Roger Carstens在华盛顿的一次新闻发布会上表示，拜登(Joe Biden)政府正准备向俄罗斯提出一项新建议，以确保格什科维奇和惠兰获释。Carstens说，美国“正在努力制定出下一份提议”。 6park.com
Ryabkov’s comments come a week after Roger Carstens, the chief U.S. hostage diplomat, told a press event in Washington that the Biden administration is preparing a new proposal to Moscow to secure the release of Gershkovich and Whelan, saying that the U.S. was “in the process of trying to put together what might look like our next offer.” 6park.com
   
俄方周四的消息虽然并不新鲜，但却传递了一个最新信号，表明双方都在认真进行释放此二人的谈判。这两人是美国国务院认定在俄罗斯被不当拘留的仅有的两名美国人。 6park.com
Thursday’s remarks from Moscow, though not new, are the latest signal that both sides are seriously engaged in negotiations to free the two men, the only Americans categorized by the State Department as wrongfully detained in Russia. 6park.com
   
32岁的格什科维奇是美国公民，他于2023年3月29日在叶卡捷琳堡进行报道期间被俄罗斯联邦安全局(FSB)拘留。格什科维奇是获得俄罗斯外交部认可的记者。俄方尚未公开提供格什科维奇案的指控证据，但表示俄罗斯是依法行事。 6park.com
Gershkovich, a 32-year-old U.S. citizen, was detained on March 29, 2023, by Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, while he was on a reporting trip in the city of Yekaterinburg. Gershkovich was accredited to work as a journalist by Russia’s foreign ministry. Moscow hasn’t publicly provided evidence of the allegation against the reporter, but has said it is acting in accordance with its laws.


保罗·惠兰因间谍罪被判16年徒刑，他和他的家人均表示这些指控不实。

俄罗斯总统普京(Vladimir Putin)今年2月暗示，如果俄罗斯与美国达成协议，他将对涉及格什科维奇的换俘计划持开放态度。普京不予提供有关协议的时间框架，也没有具体说明俄罗斯要求用谁来交换格什科维奇。但他明确提到了俄罗斯特工克拉西科夫(Vadim Krasikov)，此人目前正在德国服无期徒刑，他于2019年在一个柏林公园枪杀了一名车臣人。 6park.com
In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin, indicated that he would be open to a prisoner swap for Gershkovich if Moscow and Washington reached an agreement. Putin declined to give a time frame for a deal and didn’t specify whom Moscow was demanding for in return for Gershkovich. But he made clear reference to Russian operative Vadim Krasikov, now serving a life sentence in Germany for gunning down a Chechen émigré in a Berlin park in 2019. 6park.com
   
这番言论提出了一种可能性，那就是普京或许是在向谈判代表们发出信号，希望推进该进程。几个月来，美国官员和观察人士发现，在确保被俄罗斯关押的美国人获释方面进展缓慢，令人痛心。根据《华尔街日报》当时的报道，去年12月，美国国务院表示美方谈判代表已向俄罗斯提出释放格什科维奇和惠兰的新提议，但遭俄罗斯拒绝，该提议涉及换囚。 6park.com
The remarks raised the possibility that the Russian leader could be signaling to negotiators to move the process forward, after months in which U.S. officials and observers have seen painfully slow progress in ensuring the release of the Americans in Russian custody. In December, the State Department said U.S. negotiators had made a fresh offer to Russia to free Gershkovich and Whelan, but Moscow rejected the American proposal, which had involved trading prisoners, the Journal reported at the time. 6park.com
   
今年3月，普京在第五次当选总统后发表讲话，再次谈及换囚问题，称在俄罗斯反对派政治家、克里姆林宫的批评者阿列克谢·纳瓦尔尼(Alexei Navalny)死于北极监狱的几天前，他已同意用纳瓦尔尼与西方国家进行换囚。 6park.com
In March, Putin addressed the prisoner swap issue again saying, in a speech delivered following his re-election to a fifth term in office, that he had agreed to exchange Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny with prisoners in the West days before the Russian opposition politician died in an Arctic penal colony. 6park.com
  
美国白宫还呼吁释放拥有美俄双重国籍的自由欧洲电台/自由电台(Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)记者库尔玛舍娃(Alsu Kurmasheva)，她于去年10月被拘押，之后被指控未登记为外国代理人。她随后还被指控散布有关俄罗斯军方的虚假信息。美国国务院官员表示，俄罗斯对库尔玛舍娃提出的指控毫无根据。美国国务院的一位官员说，美国正密切关注库尔玛舍娃拘留事件，但尚未确定她是否被不当拘留。 6park.com
The White House is also calling for the release of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who was taken into custody in October and later charged with failing to register as a foreign agent. She was subsequently also charged with spreading false information about Russia’s military. State Department officials have said Russia has brought baseless charges against Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian citizen. The U.S. is closely monitoring her detention but hasn’t reached a decision on whether she is being wrongfully detained, a State Department official said. 6park.com
   
上个月，俄罗斯一家法院将格什科维奇的拘留期延长了三个月，批准了俄罗斯联邦安全局的请求，同意让格什科维奇继续在狱中候审，直至6月30日。 6park.com
Last month, a Russian court extended Gershkovich’s detention by three months, granting the request from the FSB, that the reporter remain behind bars awaiting trial until June 30. 6park.com
  
根据俄罗斯法律，对于特别复杂的刑事案件，调查人员可以有最多一年的时间为庭审做准备，但在特殊情况下这个时限可以进一步延长。间谍罪可判处10至20年监禁。在此类案件中，法院很少宣判被告无罪。 6park.com
Russian law allows investigators up to a year in criminal cases deemed particularly complex to prepare for a trial, but grants further extensions in exceptional circumstances. A conviction for espionage can carry a prison sentence of 10 to 20 years. It is rare for a court to acquit a defendant in such cases.