U.S. Faces Challenge in Striking Prisoner Exchange Deals for Americans Held in Russia

A stream of Russians in recent months has been accused of espionage in places like Slovenia and Brazil. Then last week, Russia detained an American journalist, The Wall Street Journal’s Evan Gershkovich, while he was on a reporting trip, and accused him of espionage—an allegation that the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny. 

Now, the fate of Mr. Gershkovich, the accused Russians or others could be decided in the recently revived, and coldly transactional, universe of international prisoner exchanges. The primary question is what form such a deal would take—and how difficult it would be to agree upon.