Journalist Tucker Carlson’s bombshell interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin revealed a willingness on Moscow’s part to make concessions in the arrest and jailing of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

The conservative wisely saved that query for the very end of the lengthy face-to-face with the head of state.

The former Fox News host noted that Gershkovich has been imprisoned for nearly a year and that it is of great concern in the U.S. He avoided going into details of the incident but framed the question as a mark of the president’s “decency.” 

Carlson asked Putin, “Would you be willing to release him to us and we’ll bring him back to the United States?”

The Russian leader responded, “We have done so many gestures of goodwill out of decency that I think we have run out of them. We have never seen anyone reciprocate to us in a similar manner.”

NEW: Tucker Carlson calls out Vladimir Putin to his face about imprisoning Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

Carlson called on Putin to release him so he could take him home.

Tucker: "I just want to ask you directly: Would you be willing to release him to us and… pic.twitter.com/0z2YjY2BJh

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 9, 2024

Putin added, “There is no taboo to settle this issue. We are willing to solve it but there are certain terms being discussed via special services channels. I believe an agreement can be reached.”

Carlson continued to press Putin, asserting that Gershkovich clearly was not a spy but in some manner ran afoul of Russian authorities. “And everyone knows it’s true. So maybe he’s in a different category.”

Putin reasserted that the American reporter was in fact a spy. He said that Gershkovich “was receiving classified, confidential information, and he did it covertly.” 

The Russian president declared that the American “was caught red-handed when he was receiving this information.”

The journalist was arrested by Russian authorities last March while in the city of Yekaterinburg, about 1,200 miles east of Moscow. He was on a reporting trip at the time. 

Russia’s Federal Security Service charged that he was carrying out the instructions of the U.S. government. Officials said he “collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.”

The Wall Street Journal and Gershkovich reject the accusations, and the Biden administration classified him as wrongfully detained.