American reporters asked to interview Putin, and the Russian side responded that it was not interested at present.

Russian Presidential Press Secretary peskov said at a press conference that the Kremlin is not interested in arranging an interview with Putin by Evan Gershkovich, a reporter from The Wall Street Journal. Peskov stressed that such international media interviews need to have sufficient reasons, but there is no such demand at present. This is different from his statement last month, when he mentioned that if Gershkovich’s interview application is received, the Kremlin will consider it, and President Putin will decide whether to accept foreign media interviews according to the situation.

According to earlier reports, the Turkish National Intelligence Agency facilitated an international prisoner exchange operation in Ankara on August 1, involving seven countries including the United States, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway, Russia and Belarus. In this exchange, 26 people were released, including Gershkovich, a reporter from the Moscow branch of The Wall Street Journal who was detained in Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an order on the same day, pardoning 13 people, including Gershkovich.