WASHINGTON, April 3. /TASS/: The US work insistently to achieve the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich who works in WSJ’s Moscow office and continue to deny all charges against him, US National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby said Monday.
"We have been pushing hard since the moment we found out the reporter was detained," Kirby said, noting that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about Gershkovich, with the US having made it clear that Washington condemns Gershkovich’s detention and desires his prompt return.
"We will do everything we can to get Evan home and Paul Whelan," Kirby said, adding that communication with the Russian side will continue for as long as necessary. He pointed out that the case attracted the White House’s attention in terms of how Gershkovich could be brought home.
The Public Relations Center of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said earlier that Evan Gershkovich, "acting at the behest of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of an enterprise within Russia’s military-industrial complex." The reporter was detained in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg. The FSB investigators opened a criminal case against the US citizen under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Espionage"). Gershkovich denies all charges.
The Wall Street Journal expressed its deep concerns for Gershkovich’s safety. US President Joe Biden asked Russian authorities to release the reporter.
