The US summoned Russia’s ambassador for a meeting last week, a State 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 for a meeting last week, a State 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 called 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 Wednesday 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.
“I’ll let that process play out,” Blinken said. He added, however, that “in my own mind, there’s no doubt that he’s being wrongfully detained by Russia, which is exactly what I said to Foreign Minister Lavrov when I spoke to him over the weekend and insisted that Evan be released immediately.”
Russia analysts have said Moscow is probably engaging in hostage diplomacy and is holding the reporter with the intention of eventually negotiating a prisoner exchange similar to the one that freed basketball star Brittney Griner.
(Updates with Blinken comment in final paragraph)
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