 So while I'm sure they would all welcome a not guilty verdict, that doesn't seem to be where this is going. The U.S. hostage says diplomat Roger Carstens has said that efforts to negotiate the release of Grishkovich and another jailed American, Paul Whelan, continue. Earlier this month, President Putin acknowledged much the same. But recently, Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Rybkov, said Moscow had presented Washington with a proposal, adding that if the U.S. didn't like the deal on the table, that was their problem. So that's where we are.