evidence: Putin said that Russia was looking to negotiate with the U.S. about detained Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, a businessman and former Marine imprisoned in Russia on suspicion of spying. Contacts have been made to discuss securing their freedom, he said. [...] Putin said Russia had "contacts" with American partners about the case. "There is a dialogue going on about this. It’s not simple. I am not going to go into details. But I think we are generally speaking a language we can understand," he added. [...] Putin called the U.S. an "important and necessary country" in the world, but said its "imperialism politics" gets in the way of relations with Moscow.