US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called today (Sunday) his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov for the immediate release of the American "Wall Street Journal" reporter Ivan Gershkovitch and another detainee, Paul Whelan, expressing Washington's deep concern over the unacceptable detention of the American journalist.
The US State Department said that Blinken discussed with his Russian counterpart Lavrov the importance of creating an environment that allows diplomatic missions to carry out their tasks.
On the other hand, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Lavrov told Blinken that Gershkovitch's fate would be decided by the Russian judiciary, indicating that the American correspondent was caught red-handed, and that Lavrov told Blinken that it was unacceptable for Washington to politicize the reporter's case and make a fuss about it.
The Russian Federal Security Service announced (Thursday) the detention of "Wall Street Journal" reporter Ivan Gershkovich in the city of Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains region, on suspicion of "espionage", while the newspaper "strongly" denied the accusations, calling for his immediate release.
"The Russian Federal Security Service thwarted the illegal activities of Ivan Gerchikovich, an American citizen born in 1991, correspondent for the Moscow bureau of the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal, who is suspected of espionage for the US government," the Russian Security Service said in a statement reported by the Russian "TASS" agency.
He added, “At the request of the US government, Ivan Gershkovich collected information that constitutes state secrets about the activities of a Russian military-industrial complex, and detained the foreigner in Yekaterinburg while trying to obtain classified information.” A Russian court, in a closed session, ordered the reporter to be imprisoned for two months.
Okaz (Jeddah) @okaz_online
