Move FM Global News

WASHINGTON D.C.: Lynne Tracy, US Ambassador to Russia, said she visited Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich this week.

Gershkovich was arrested two weeks ago and imprisoned in Moscow on charges of spying.

In a statement in Russian on Telegram, Tracy said, “He feels well and is holding up. We reiterate our call for Evan’s immediate release.”

Hired by the Wall Street Journal shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine last year, Gershkovich was arrested last month in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, the first time since 1986 that an American reporter has been held on alleged espionage charges in Russia.

The Wall Street Journal has rejected the charge, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

The White House has called the charge “ridiculous,” and President Joe Biden stressed that Gershkovich’s imprisonment is “totally illegal.”

Russia’s security service, the FSB, has accused Gershkovich of collecting state secrets about Russia’s military-industrial complex, adding he was “caught red-handed,” despite not showing any evidence to support that claim.

Last week, the US designated Gershkovich as “wrongfully detained,” meaning that the charges leveled against him were bogus and the case political.

Tracy promised to do “whatever it takes” to get Gershkovich released, as well as Paul Whelan, an American ex-Marine who was convicted of espionage in 2020 and has also been designated as wrongfully detained by Washington.