US Prez Biden says 'pushing hard' for jailed journalist Evan Gershkovich release

US President Joe Biden on Friday said Washington was pressing for the release of journalist Evan Gershkovich after Russia sentenced him to 16 years in a penal colony on spying charges.

"We are pushing hard for Evan's release and will continue to do so," Biden said in a statement, adding that the Wall Street Journal employee had "committed no crime" and was "targeted" by Moscow for being a reporter and US citizen.

Biden's statement comes hours after the Russian court found Gershkovich guilty of espionage charges.

Gershkovich, a 32-year-old American who said the allegations against him were false, went on trial last month in the city of Yekaterinburg.

He was the first US journalist arrested on spying charges in Russia since the Cold War.

Espionage cases trial, which are usually time-consuming, was held expeditiously behind closed doors.

The sentence has stoked speculation that a long-discussed US-Russia prisoner exchange deal involving him and potentially other Americans detained in Russia may be in the offing.

The Kremlin, when asked by news agency Reuters on Friday about the possibility of such an exchange, declined to comment: "I'll leave your question unanswered," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

Russian prosecutors had alleged that Gershkovich had gathered secret information on the orders of the US Central Intelligence Agency about a company that manufactures tanks for Moscow's war in Ukraine, which he and his employer denied, according to Reuters.

Officers of the FSB security service arrested him on March 29, 2023, at a steakhouse in Yekaterinburg, 900 miles (1,400 km) east of Moscow. He has since been held in Moscow's Lefortovo prison.