US Reporter Evan Gershkovich
On Sunday, Russia’s foreign minister slammed Western “hype” surrounding the arrest of American journalist Evan Gershkovich on espionage accusations, dismissing Washington’s latest request for his release and said his fate will be decided in court.
Sergei Lavrov claimed that when Gershkovich was detained this week, he was attempting to obtain top-secret information in a rare phone contact from his American counterpart Antony Blinken.
According to Russia’s foreign ministry, Lavrov told Blinken that he was gathering information that was considered a state secret “under the cover of his journalist credentials”.
According to a representative for the State Department, Blinken expressed the United States’ profound concern over Russia’s intolerable arrest of a journalist who is a US citizen.
According to a statement from the spokesperson, Vedant Patel, “The Secretary called for his immediate release”.
The Wall Street Journal reporter Gershkovich, who is thought to be the first foreign journalist detained for espionage in post-Soviet Russia, is anticipated to intensify tensions between the Kremlin and the West as a result of Moscow’s campaign in Ukraine.
“A court will decide his future fate”, Lavrov was quoted as saying in a foreign ministry statement.
“It was stressed during the discussion that Western media and officials in Washington should refrain from generating hype designed to give the case a political slant”, the ministry said.
US President Joe Biden demanded Gershkovich’s release on Friday but rejected an editorial board request to expel Russian journalists from the country.
When asked by reporters from the White House what he wanted Russia to know about Gershkovich, Biden responded, “Let him go”.
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