THE Germany declined to comment today on whether talks are underway to exchange one Russian by order of the state executioner serving a life sentence in a German prison by imprisoned American journalist Evan Gershkowitzto which Russian President Vladimir Putin referred.

A German government spokesman twice declined to answer questions about the proposals, which have been repeatedly raised in the media since the Wall Street Journal reporter was first taken into custody last March.

“I can’t say anything about that,” said deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann when asked if Russia was looking forward to such an exchange.

People accompanying Chancellor Olaf Solz, who is visiting Washington for talks with President Joe Biden, also declined to comment.

Gershkovich is in pretrial detention in Russia, on trumped-up espionage charges his newspaper and the US government have said.

The man Putin wants freed is Vadim Krasikov, who is serving a life sentence for the 2019 killing in a Berlin park of a Chechen from Georgia who took part in the armed struggle against Moscow for the independence of Chechnya.

Although Putin did not name Krasikov, his reference to a person “who, out of patriotic feelings, killed a bandit in one of the European capitals,” closely matches known details about the Berlin killer.

An exchange would be legally possible but highly sensitive, not only because it would require Germany to hand over its own convict in order to secure the release of another country’s citizen, but also because of the seriousness of Kraskov’s crime.

“We are talking about a case in which not only a murder took place but also the crime was considered particularly serious,” said the judge, professor of law at the University of Hamburg, Kai Cornelius.

“This is the most serious sentence that can be handed down under German law.”

Krasikov could be freed if prosecutors say they no longer wish to carry out his sentence.