US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken invited Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss the release of Wall Street Journal journalist Ivan Gershkovich. Blinken also interceded for another American, Paul Whelan, who was held in Russia.
According to Associated PressBlinken expressed “deep concern” over the arrest of Ivan Gershkovich, accused of espionage, calling for his immediate release.
According to the FSB, the Russian security agency that succeeded the KGB, Gershkovich was gathering information about a military industrial complex, which led to his arrest last week.
This is the first time since the Cold War that a media reporter has been arrested on espionage charges.
The US Secretary of State urged the release of wrongly detained Paul Whelan. In early March, on the sidelines of the G20 meeting, the two diplomats spoke about the American’s case.
Whelan, a Michigan native, has been held in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges that the family and the U.S. government say are unfounded. A security firm executive is currently serving a 16-year prison sentence.
During the dialogue between the parties, Lavrov “drew Blinken’s attention to the need to respect the decisions of the Russian authorities”, according to the same officials, and Gershkovich was caught “in the act”.
The Russian foreign minister urged US officials and the media to stop politicizing the journalist’s detention, saying “his future will be decided by the courts”.
In turn, the US State Department considers the journalist’s detention unacceptable. US consular officials have requested to meet with the detainee in person, but have so far not responded to that request.
The talks follow the release late last year of American basketball player Brittney Griner, who had been imprisoned in Russia since February of that year as part of a prisoner exchange between the two countries.
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