A VAN CARRYING WALL STREET JOURNAL REPORTER EVAN GERSHKOVICH LEAVES A COURT IN MOSCOW ON THURSDAY. PHOTO: ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/ASSOCIATED PRESS
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has requested the release of detained American journalists Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Gershkovich was arrested in Yekaterinburg last week, March 29, on espionage charges, the WSJ reports.
The U.S. embassy in Moscow has been notified of his detention, but diplomats are yet to visit him.
- Wall Street Journal Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker said the U.S. government is taking the detention seriously but declined to speculate on the motive behind the arrest.
- Lawyers are scheduled to visit Gershkovich on April 6, but Russian authorities often delay or cancel such visits.
- If Gershkovich is designated as wrongfully detained, the U.S. government will commit to securing his release and dedicate government resources to the effort.
Gershkovich, whose parents fled the Soviet Union, is being held at the Lefortovo prison, a pretrial detention center run by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), where Russia holds most suspects in espionage cases.
