Russia refused a request from the US Embassy to visit imprisoned journalist Ivan Gershkovich on May 11. Reporter The Wall Street Journal Detained on suspicion of espionage, according to the United States, is not justified. A representative of the Russian Embassy in the United States was allowed to visit two Russian prisoners in New York last Wednesday.
The Russian refusal comes in response to the failure to issue visas to Russian journalists who wanted to travel to the United States in the wake of Foreign Minister Lavrov. Lavrov was in New York this week for a meeting of the UN Security Council, which Russia currently chairs.
On Thursday, the White House announced sanctions against the Russian security service, the FSB, over the arrests of Gershkovitch and other Americans. The same sanctions were imposed on Iran’s security apparatus, which has engaged in similar practices: “Our message to Russia, Iran and the world is that taking Americans hostage or holding them on improper grounds is unacceptable,” said President Biden. “Release them immediately.”
A full-page advertisement was placed in three US newspapers with the words He called for the release of “press is not a crime” Gershkovich. His arrest is “the latest development in an alarming trend of journalists being harassed, arrested, or worse, for their coverage of the news.”
Guram Paul
Also read this profile about Gershkovich: The American journalist who wrote about the country his parents fled from is now imprisoned there
