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• DJ Putin Says Any Deal to Free Jailed Journal Reporter Must Benefit Russia -- WSJ, from 16 minutes ago by Dow Jones

  16 minutes ago by Dow Jones
  Companies Mentioned: NWSA, NWS
  By Ann M. Simmons Russian President Vladimir Putin said any deal to free Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich would come only through a mutually beneficial agreement with the U.S., which he said has been pushing hard for the release of the American journalist since he was detained over 14 months ago. The two sides have been discussing a possible prisoner exchange in past months, but the Russian government has said momentum slowed more recently after accusing Washington of ignoring its proposals. "I know the United States administration is indeed taking vigorous steps to free him," Putin told representatives of leading foreign news agencies in St. Petersburg Wednesday. "But such issues are not resolved through the media. They like a quiet, calm, professional approach and dialogue between intelligence agencies. And, of course, they should be resolved only on the basis of reciprocity." Putin added without providing details that the U.S. and Russia were in contact with each other over the issues. The Russian leader's remarks come as Moscow and Washington continue to discuss the direction of negotiations that could secure the release of Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen who was accredited to work as a journalist by Russia's foreign ministry. Russia's Federal Security Service detained him on March 29 last year while he was on a reporting assignment in the city of Yekaterinburg. The 32-year-old reporter is being held in a Moscow prison on an allegation of espionage that he, the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny. The State Department has declared him wrongfully detained, a designation that commits the government to work for his release. Russian investigators haven't publicly presented evidence to back up their allegation against Gershkovich. On Wednesday, Putin said Russian law enforcement and security services believe he "committed illegal acts called espionage," but the Russian president said he wouldn't "go into details now." Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the state news agency TASS last month that in the past the two sides had managed to come to a resolution on high-profile cases involving prisoners being held in both Russia and the U.S., but they were now in a "long standstill." While not addressing Ryabkov's comments directly, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said there is no higher priority than the safety and security of American citizens overseas. President Biden has said that he is working around the clock to secure the release of Gershkovich and other U.S. citizens wrongfully detained in other countries. In April, Ryabkov said that the U.S. and Russia are using a confidential channel to discuss the issue of exchanging prisoners that could include Gershkovich. He 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 at the time. The Kremlin has criticized the U.S. for practicing what it described as "megaphone diplomacy" surrounding efforts to free Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, another U.S. citizen who has also been designated as wrongfully detained. The former corporate-security executive who earlier served in the Marines is now serving a 16-year sentence in Russia for an espionage conviction that he, his family and the U.S. government say was based on false allegations. Russia is also holding Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, 47, a dual Russia-U.S. citizen, who was detained last year in the city of Kazan while visiting her ailing mother. She was initially held on an allegation that she had failed to register as a foreign agent, a designation Russian authorities have extended to hundreds of organizations and individuals, often as a way of discrediting them and highlighting their links abroad. She was subsequently charged with spreading false information about the Russian military in relation to a book she helped edit that criticizes the invasion of Ukraine. The State Department has said that it continues to look at her case, that the Russian government has brought baseless charges against her and that it is deeply concerned about her detention. Kurmasheva has denied the allegations against her through her husband, Pavel Butorin, and her legal team. The Kremlin billed Wednesday's meeting with the senior news editors as an opportunity for them to meet and freely discuss what TASS called "the most topical issues of Russia's domestic and foreign policy." The last time Putin held a meeting in this format was in 2021, when it was conducted via videoconferencing due to the coronavirus pandemic. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said media executives from what Moscow deems to be "unfriendly countries" were also invited to the meeting because "it's very important for them to get to know and understand Putin and understand Russia first-hand," TASS cited him as saying. "This is a unique chance for them." Among those present were representatives from the Associated Press, Reuters and China's Xinhua News Agency. The war in Ukraine, which began with Russia's invasion in February 2022, was among the most prevalent topics raised during the almost three-hour conversation. Putin told the journalists that the fighting in Ukraine could end within two or three months if the U.S. stopped supplying Kyiv with weapons. He criticized the decision of Western nations, including the U.S., to allow precision-guided weapons they are providing Ukraine to be used for strikes on Russian territory. He warned that this signaled the direct engagement of these countries in the conflict, which would give Russia the right to take similar action. "If we see that these countries are being dragged into the war against us...then we're reserving the right to act the same way," Putin said. "Overall, it is a path towards very serious problems," he said. The Biden administration last week said that it would allow Ukrainian forces to engage in limited targeting with American-supplied weapons inside Russia, enabling Kyiv's forces to deploy artillery and fire short-range rockets from Himars launchers against command posts, arms depots and other assets on Russian territory that are being used by Moscow's military to carry out its attack on Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine. The policy doesn't give Ukraine permission to use longer-range ATACMS surface-to-surface missiles against targets in Russia. Since then, Ukraine's military has used Himars ground-to-ground missiles to hit a Russian air-defense system in Russia's Belgorod region, according to a Ukrainian military officer in the area familiar with the strike. Western analysts earlier cited geolocated videos posted online in assessing that Ukraine had used the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or Himars, to strike an air-defense battery nearly 40 miles from the current front line. Putin said Wednesday, without providing evidence, that decisions on whether to strike a target or not inside Russia using ATACMS and Franco-British Storm Shadow tactical cruise missiles are being made by the U.S. and the United Kingdom, while Kyiv just identifies the preferred objectives, he said. The Russian leader also weighed in on November's upcoming U.S. presidential election, telling the news leaders that while he considered Biden to be an "old school politician" and predictable, he didn't care whether the incumbent or the Republican presumptive candidate Donald Trump won the vote. There would be no changes in Washington's policy toward Moscow, he said. "For us, the end result, we believe, does not matter much. We will work with whatever president the American people elect," he said. Write to Ann M. Simmons at ann.simmons@wsj.com (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 05, 2024 18:22 ET (22:22 GMT)

• DJ News Corporation On Pace for Record High Close -- Data Talk, from 4 hours ago by Dow Jones

  4 hours ago by Dow Jones
  Companies Mentioned: NWSA, NWS
  
  News Corporation Class A (NWSA) is currently at $27.70, up $0.47 or 1.74%
  
  --Would be new all-time high (Based on available data back to June 19, 2013)
  
  --Would be the first record close since May 11, 2021, when it closed at $27.64