KARUIZAWA /Japan/, April 18. /TASS/. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, detained in Russia on espionage charges, "is in good health and good spirits," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a press conference on Tuesday following a G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Japan.
"I can report based on what [US] Ambassador [to Russia Lynne] Tracy has said, that he is in good health and good spirits considering the circumstances. We continue to call for his immediate release," he said.
The US ambassador visited Gershkovich at a Moscow detention facility on Monday. According to John Kirby, White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, Tracy told Gershkovich that the US would seek his release and Washington expected to be granted regular consular access to him. The White House official added, however, that he was unaware when the next meeting would take place.
Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service, in turn, said that Gershkovich pointed out at the meeting with the US envoy that members of the Public Monitoring Commission and Moscow’s human rights ombudsperson, who are responsible for monitoring whether the rights and legitimate interests of detainees are duly upheld, had repeatedly visited him at the Levortovo Pre-Trial Detention Center.
According to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Gershkovich, acting at the behest of the US, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of Russian defense sector companies. In that regard, the reporter was detained in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg. Criminal charges have been filed against him under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Espionage"). As Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier, the journalist was caught red-handed. On March 30, Moscow’s Lefortovsky District Court ruled that Gershkovich be held in custody until May 29.