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Russia will not tolerate "pressure" from the United States over detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, a Russian senior official has warned.
The remarks were made by Sergei Ryabkov, Russia's deputy foreign minister, shortly after the U.S. State Department said Gershkovich was being "wrongfully detained by Russia." "Wrongfully detained" means that the U.S. believes he was targeted primarily because he is an American citizen.
Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen, was arrested by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) at the end of March in the city of Yekaterinburg on spying allegations. The FSB opened a felony espionage case against Gershkovich, and he could face a prison sentence of up to 20 years if convicted. The U.S. and The Wall Street Journal have denied the espionage accusation and have called for his immediate release.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said U.S. consular officials have not had access to Gershkovich since he was detained. The State Department said this is "a violation of Russia's obligations under our consular convention and a violation against international law," referring to a treaty adopted by the U.S. and the Soviet Union in 1964.
The treaty states that a consular officer will be granted access to a detained or arrested citizen "in prison, custody or detention, to converse and correspond with him and to arrange for his legal representation."
Ryabkov told reporters on Wednesday that Russia was considering granting U.S. diplomats consular access to the detained journalist, but he lashed out at U.S. attempts to "pressure" Russia on the matter.
"We will not tolerate any attempts to pressure us, and it has no significance what status they assign to this person in Washington. We will act in accordance with our own internal needs, norms and laws that apply in this situation and nothing more," Ryabkov said, according to state-run news agency Tass.
On Monday, the State Department said in a statement that U.S. officials "condemn the Kremlin's continued repression of independent voices in Russia, and its ongoing war against the truth."
"Journalism is not a crime," it said. "The U.S. government will provide all appropriate support to Mr. Gershkovich and his family. We call for the Russian Federation to immediately release Mr. Gershkovich."
The State Department also called on Russia to release "wrongfully detained" U.S. citizen Paul Whelan, who was sentenced to serve 16 years in a penal colony in Russia.
During a press briefing on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to the State Department's "wrongfully detained" designation of Gershkovich's detention.
"What it means I don't know," he told reporters. "The United States could and should protect the rights of its citizen who was caught red-handed [and] violated the relevant laws of the Russian Federation. He is suspected of such. Naturally, the decision will be made by the court. [That's] all there is to say."
Gershkovich covers Russia for the Journal and was previously a reporter for Agence France-Presse and The Moscow Times. He has also had work published in The New York Times, The Economist, MIT Technology Review, Foreign Policy and Politico Europe.
Shortly after news of the journalist's detention broke, local news outlet 66.ru reported that Gershkovich had gone missing in Yekaterinburg, citing a local "PR expert," Yaroslav Shirshikov, who said he had accompanied the reporter on a previous reporting trip he made.
Shirshikov said Gershkovich came to Yekaterinburg to work on a story about the Ukraine war and the mercenary Wagner Group—a paramilitary outfit that has been heavily involved in the months-long fighting over the eastern city of Bakhmut.
"He came on such a big expedition. The most important thing that interested him was the attitude towards the Wagner PMC and the special operation in general," Shirshikov said.
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About the writer
Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more