Moscow
\nUS Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who Russia accuses of spying, in a call on Sunday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who said Washington should not politicize the case.
\nRussia\u2019s FSB security service said on Thursday it had arrested Gershkovich, accusing him of gathering information about a Russian defence company that was a state secret.
\nThe Wall Street Journal has denied Gershkovich was spying. The White House has called the espionage charge, which carries a jail term of up to 20 years, \u201cridiculous.\u201d
\n\u201cSecretary Blinken conveyed the United States\u2019 grave concern over Russia\u2019s unacceptable detention of a US citizen journalist. The Secretary called for his immediate release,\u201d the US State Department said in a statement that did not mention Gershkovich by name.
\nA US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the statement did refer to Gershkovich. Under US law, the State Department is generally barred from speaking about a US citizen unless he or she has signed a privacy waiver.
\nRussia\u2019s foreign ministry said Lavrov told Blinken it was unacceptable for Washington to politicize the case, adding that Gershkovich\u2019s fate would be determined by a court. He reiterated Russia\u2019s assertion, for which it has not presented any evidence, that the journalist was \u201ccaught red-handed\u201d last week.
\n\u201cBlinken\u2019s attention was drawn to the need to respect the decisions of the Russian authorities, taken in accordance with the law and international obligations of the Russian Federation,\u201d the Russian foreign ministry said.
\n\u201cIt was emphasized that it is unacceptable for officials in Washington and the Western media to whip up a stir with the clear intention of giving this case a political coloring,\u201d the ministry added, saying Blinken initiated the conversation.
\nDirect conversations between Blinken and Lavrov have been rare since Russia\u2019s Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine. The two spoke face-to-face for the first time since the invasion on the sidelines of a wider March 2 meeting in New Delhi.
\nWall Street Journal Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker decried Gershkovich\u2019s arrest and the Russian accusations about the reporter but said she was reassured Blinken and Lavrov spoke.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a complete outrage that he was arrested like this … what the Russian authorities are saying is utter nonsense,\u201d she told CBS\u2019 \u201cFace the Nation\u201d program.
\nAt a closed hearing on Thursday, Gershkovich was placed in pre-trial detention until May 29 at Moscow\u2019s Lefortovo prison.
\nMany Western and some Russian analysts suggested the arrest was a move by Moscow to secure a bargaining chip with Washington, four months after a high-profile prisoner swap where it traded U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner for convicted Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout. Griner has urged the Biden administration to use \u201cevery tool possible\u201d to free Gershkovich.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Moscow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who Russia accuses of spying, in a call on Sunday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who said Washington should not politicize the case. Russia\u2019s FSB security service said on Thursday it had arrested Gershkovich, accusing him of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323625,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-323612","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n