U.S. Ambassador Meets With Evan Gershkovich, Detained WSJ Reporter, in Russia

The U.S. ambassador to Russia met with Evan Gershkovich, the jailed American reporter for The Wall Street Journal, in Lefortovo Prison in Moscow on Monday, the State Department mentioned hours after their discuss.

The go to by the ambassador, Lynne Tracey, marked the third time she had met with Mr. Gershkovich since he was detained by the Russian authorities in March.

“Ambassador Tracy said that Evan continues to appear in good health and remains strong, despite his circumstances,” the State Department mentioned in a written assertion.

American officers have mentioned that their Russian counterparts are blocking them from getting common consular entry to Mr. Gershkovich, the primary American journalist arrested on an espionage cost in Russia for the reason that finish of the Cold War.

Relations between Washington and Moscow are at their lowest level in many years following the choice by President Vladmir V. Putin to begin a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Analysts say Russian officers underneath Mr. Putin probably detained Mr. Gershkovich in hopes of doing a prisoner swap with the United States.

Russian officers are holding Mr. Gershkovich, 31, on an accusation of spying though he’s a journalist with accreditation from Russia’s Foreign Ministry and regardless of the very fact he was doing reporting on the time of his detention.

Agents from the Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., detained Mr. Gershkovich on March 29 whereas he was on a reporting journey within the metropolis of Yekaterinburg within the Urals area.

The Wall Street Journal and Mr. Gershkovich’s members of the family have denied any accusation that he’s a spy, and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken mentioned in April that he had been wrongfully detained.

In December 2022, President Biden agreed to launch Viktor Bout, an imprisoned Russian weapons vendor, in trade for the liberty of Brittney Griner, the American basketball star, practically 10 months after Ms. Griner was detained in Moscow on accusations of drug smuggling and possession. The State Department mentioned in May 2022 that she had been wrongfully detained.

Russia has mentioned it would talk about prisoner releases with the United States via a particular channel that Mr. Biden and Mr. Putin established at a gathering in Geneva in 2021. The negotiations to launch of Ms. Griner occurred via that channel.

A Russian courtroom determined in June to increase Mr. Gershkovich’s detention till at the very least Aug. 30 and denied an attraction from his attorneys. The detention was initially speculated to have ended on May 29. Ms. Tracey final met with Mr. Gershkovich in jail on July 3.