MOSCOW (AFP) – The US ambassador to Russia said Monday that he was able to visit a Wall Street Journal reporter arrested on espionage charges more than two weeks ago.
Ambassador Lynn Tracy visited Evan Gerszkovic in Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison, which is notorious for its harsh conditions, and said, “He is healthy and doing well.”
“This is the first time we have been allowed to visit him since he was illegally detained over two weeks ago,” she said on Twitter. “We repeat our call for his immediate release.” .”
The 31-year-old Gershkovich, his employer, and the U.S. government deny he was involved in espionage.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said last week that a prisoner exchange for Gerszkovic was possible, but only after his trial was over. This date has not been set. It’s not clear how long the investigation will take, but the other espionage case has been going on for over a year.
In December, American basketball star Britney Griner was tried and convicted of drug possession before being traded to Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.She was sentenced to nine years in prison. and ended up spending 10 months in prison.
Paul Whelan, another U.S. security expert from Michigan, has been jailed in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges that his family and the U.S. government have called unsubstantiated.
The world is at a tipping point in the fighting in Ukraine and must “resolutely reject any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force, a Russian attack on Ukraine and the threat of the use of nuclear weapons,” said Japan’s foreign minister. said. A colleague of Mr. Yoshimasa Hayashi, according to the Japanese summary. For the American delegation, the meeting comes at a pivotal time in the global response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine and in efforts to deal with China, with Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Italy and the European Union sees it as a powerful challenge to the post-World War II rules-based international order.
If convicted, Gershkovich faces up to 20 years in prison.
The Russian Federal Security Service arrested Gerszkovic on March 29 in Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth largest city. He is the first U.S. correspondent to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War.
The service accuses Gershkovich of trying to obtain classified information about Russian arms factories.
