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Russia rejected “significant proposal” for Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan’s release, U.S. says
Washington — The U.S. recently made a “new and significant” proposal to Russia for the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and businessman Paul Whelan, but Moscow declined the offer, the State Department said Tuesday.
“In recent weeks, we made a new and significant proposal to secure Paul and Evan’s release,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters at a briefing. “That proposal was rejected by Russia.”
“It was to bring both of them home,” he said. Miller said the U.S. has made “a number of proposals,” but declined to give details about the offers. Both men are American citizens.
“We shouldn’t have to make these proposals,” he said. “They shouldn’t have been arrested in the first place.”
The State Department considers both Gershkovich and Whelan to be wrongfully detained.
Gershkovich was arrested in March on unsubstantiated espionage charges while he was on a reporting trip. He is awaiting trial.
Whelan, who was arrested on espionage charges in 2018 while attending a friend’s wedding in Russia, was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison. He and his family have vehemently denied the allegations.
The Wall Street Journal and Sofia Sandurskaya / AP
“We have pressed the importance of this case through a number of channels with the Russian government,” Miller said. “We will continue to do so and we hope that we will be able to secure their release.”
Earlier Tuesday, Gershkovich’s parents said the Biden administration hasn’t done enough to bring their son home.
“The efforts to do whatever it takes hasn’t been done,” his mother Ella Milman told Fox News, saying she feels that they have been kept in the dark about the efforts to secure his release. “We want the U.S. government to do whatever it takes to bring Evan home.”
Mikhail Gershkovich, his father, said President Biden’s promise to bring their son home gave them “a lot of solace and hope and strength,” but “it’s getting very, very hard to hold onto that.”
“We don’t feel they’re focused enough,” he said.
Miller said “not a week goes by without intense activity to bring Paul and Evan home” and “there is no higher priority” for Mr. Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Whelan’s family has previously expressed similar disappointment about the failure to secure his release, especially after two other American detainees — Marine veteran Trevor Reed and WNBA star Brittney Griner — were released in prisoner swaps between Russia and the U.S. after his arrest.
His sister, Elizabeth Whelan, told CBS News in September that “whatever” the Russians are asking for “had better be possible.”
Camilla Schick contributed reporting.
NEW YORK — Former New York Gov. David Paterson and his stepson were attacked in New York City on Friday night, authorities said.
The incident occurred just before 9 p.m. on Second Avenue near East 96th Street on the Upper East Side, according to the New York City Police Department.
Police said officers were sent to the scene after an assault was reported. When officers arrived, police say they found a 20-year-old man suffering from facial injuries and a 70-year-old man who had head pain. Both victims were taken to a local hospital in stable condition.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the former governor said the two were attacked while “taking a walk around the block near their home by some individuals that had a previous interaction with his stepson.”
The spokesperson said that they were injured “but were able to fight off their attackers.”
Both were taken to Cornell Hospital “as a precaution,” he added.
Police said no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
The 70-year-old Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor from 2008 to 2010, stepping into the post after the resignation of Eliot Spitzer following his prostitution scandal. He made history at the time as the state’s first-ever Black and legally blind governor.
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A 17-year-old boy was critically injured and a person is in custody after a gunman opened fire on a SEPTA bus in North Philadelphia Friday evening, police said.
At around 6:15 p.m., Philadelphia police were notified about a shooting on a SEPTA bus traveling on Allegheny Avenue near 3rd and 4th streets in North Philadelphia, Inspector D F Pace told CBS News Philadelphia.
There were an estimated 30 people on the bus at the time of the shooting, Pace said, but only the 17-year-old boy was believed to have been shot. Investigators said they believe it was a targeted attack on the teenager and that he was shot in the back of the bus at close range.
According to Pace, the SEPTA bus driver alerted a control center about the shooting, which then relayed the message to Philadelphia police, who responded to the scene shortly.
Officers arrived at the scene and found at least one spent shell casing and blood on the bus, but no shooting victim, Pace said. Investigators later discovered the 17-year-old had been taken to Temple University Hospital where he is said to be in critical condition, according to police.
CBS Philadelphia
Through their preliminary investigation, police learned those involved in the SEPTA shooting may have fled in a silver-colored Kia.
Authorities then found a car matching the description of the Kia speeding in the area and a pursuit began, Pace said. Police got help from a PPD helicopter as they followed the Kia, which ended up crashing at 5th and Greenwood streets in East Mount Airy. Pace said the Kia crashed into a parked car.
The driver of the crashed car ran away but police were still able to take them into custody, Pace said.
Investigators believe there was a second person involved in the shooting who ran from the car before it crashed. Police said they believe this person escaped near Allegheny Avenue and 4th Street, leaving a coat behind.
According to Pace, police also found a gun and a group of spent shell casings believed to be involved in the shooting in the same area.
“It’s very possible that there may have been a shooting inside the bus and also shots fired from outside of the bus toward the bus,” Pace said, “We’re still trying to piece all that together at this time.”
This is an active investigation and police are reviewing surveillance footage from the SEPTA bus.