The US summoned Russia’s ambassador to Washington to the State Department last week, a department spokesperson said, as the Biden administration pressures Moscow over the arrest and detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on espionage charges.
(Bloomberg) — The US summoned Russia’s ambassador to Washington to the State Department last week, a department spokesperson said, as the Biden administration pressures Moscow over the arrest and detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on espionage charges.
Ambassador Anatoly Antonov was summoned to the State Department on March 30, where he met with Victoria Nuland, the under secretary for political affairs, the spokesperson said, declining to add details citing privacy concerns. The meeting was reported earlier by the New York Times.
The tense diplomatic meeting occurred as the Biden administration mobilized officials to respond to the first arrest of a US journalist on espionage charges in Russia since the end of the Cold War.
Over the weekend, Secretary of State Antony Blinken called his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to demand Gershkovich’s release. White House officials have condemned the arrest and said the spying charges are ridiculous, saying Gershkovich has never worked for the government.
Blinken told reporters in Brussels on Wednesday that the State Department is “working through” the process to formally determine that Gershkovich has been wrongfully detained by Russia, a finding that authorizes the US to negotiate on his behalf.
Russia analysts have said Moscow is probably engaging in hostage diplomacy and is holding the reporter with the intention of eventually executing a prisoner swap similar to the one that eventually freed basketball star Brittney Griner.
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