According to Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel, Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, during which he expressed the United States’ “grave concern” over the detention of an American citizen journalist Evan Gershkovich.
US officials in Moscow have not been granted consular access to Gershkovich as of Sunday. This marks the first time since the Cold War that an American journalist has been detained on espionage accusations by Moscow.
Blinken also urged Russia to release another US citizen, Paul Whelan, who has been “wrongfully detained” at a Moscow hotel in December 2018 and arrested on espionage charges.
Secretary Blinken and Foreign Minister Lavrov also discussed the importance of creating an environment that allows diplomatic missions to carry out their work.
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