Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken recently spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, where he touched upon the “grave concern” the U.S. has about Russia's "unacceptable" detention of a U.S. journalist.
According to a release by the U.S. Department of the State’s spokesperson Vedant Patel on April 2, Blinken also called for the immediate release of U.S. citizen Paul Whelan as he was “wrongfully detained.” The two officials further discussed the importance of creating an environment that allows diplomats to carry out their work.
“I spoke with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov today to convey our grave concern over Russia’s unacceptable detention of a U.S. citizen journalist,” Blinken wrote on Twitter. “I called for his release and for the release of wrongfully detained U.S. citizen Paul Whelan.”
According to a CBS News report on March 30, Russian authorities arrested Evan Gershkovich, who is an American journalist based in Moscow working for The Wall Street Journal. Russia alleged that Gershkovich was spying. News outlets reported that the Russian Federal Security Service claimed that Gershkovich passed sensitive information to the U.S. intelligence agencies. This incident is the latest in a series of actions by the Russian government against journalists and media outlets that criticize the Kremlin.
“We are deeply concerned over Russia's widely-reported detention of a U.S. citizen journalist,” Blinken wrote in a release on March 30. “We are in contact with The Wall Street Journal on this situation. Whenever a U.S. citizen is detained abroad, we immediately seek consular access and seek to provide all appropriate support. In the strongest possible terms, we condemn the Kremlin's continued attempts to intimidate, repress and punish journalists and civil society voices.”
According to CNN, December 28, 2022 was the fourth anniversary of Whelan’s detention. Since then two other detainees were returned home this year in prisoner exchanges. In April a former Marine by the name of Trevor Reed was released in exchange for Russian citizen Konstantin Yaroshenko. Reed allegedly had an altercation with Russian Police.
In addition, Brittney Griner, a Women's National Basketball Association star, was released in exchange for Viktor Bout, who was a Russian arms dealer. Griner allegedly was found with marijuana in her luggage when entering Russia.
