Jewish journalist Evan Gershkovich, who was released late last week from the Russian prison as part of a deal between Washington and Moscow, submitted a request to interview Russian President Vladimir Putin.
After the decision to make the deal, formally, Gershkovich had to submit an official request to Putin for a pardon from the 16-year prison sentence imposed on him.
At the bottom of his request, Gershkovich, a journalist for the Wall Street Journal, wrote to Putin that he would like to interview him.
Last March, Gershkovich was arrested by the Russian authorities on the grounds that he was spying for the United States - a claim that led to assertions that Moscow was using Gershkovich as a bargaining chip.
Gershkovich's arrest is the first arrest of an American journalist in Russia since the end of the Cold War in the 90s.
While in Russia it was claimed that Gershkovich was arrested on suspicion of espionage, the USA rejected Russia's claims and Gershkovich's arrest led to official condemnation from the White House.
In response to the condemnations, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed that Gershkovich was "caught red-handed," but refused to provide further details. To this day, Russia has not provided any legal explanations or evidence to justify Gershkovich's arrest.