NEW YORK, July 26. /TASS/. Washington is concerned by the fact that the participation of US citizen Trevor Reed in hostilities in Ukraine may affect the US effort to return other US citizens jailed in Russia, such as Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, CNN reported citing an anonymous source.

An unnamed US official was quoted as saying that the administration was "of course" concerned that the development with Reed may harm the prisoner swap dialogue between Moscow and Washington. At the same time, the source stressed that the two issues were wholly separate.

"This was something an individual did of their own volition and should be treated entirely separately from negotiations for the release of Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan," CNN quoted the official as saying.

He explained that Reed was being treated at a US military hospital near Landstuhl, Germany.

Earlier, the US Department of State confirmed that former US marine Trevor Reed, released during an exchange of convicts with Russia, had been wounded in hostilities in Ukraine.

In turn, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Washington was examining all options for returning Gershkovich and Whelan to the United States. In her words, the US administration saw no connection between their cases and Reed’s participation in the Ukrainian conflict.

According to the FSB Public Relations Center, 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. FSB investigators opened a criminal case against the US citizen under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code (RCC) ("Espionage"). Peskov said then that the journalist had been "caught red-handed." On March 30, Moscow’s Lefortovo District Court ordered that Gershkovich be held in custody until May 29. On May 23, his detention was extended for three more months.

On December 28, 2018, Paul Whelan, who holds US, UK, Canadian and Irish citizenship, was detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in a room at the Metropol Hotel in downtown Moscow while on an alleged spy mission. The FSB charged him with espionage under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code. On June 15, 2020, the Moscow City Court found Whelan guilty of spying against Russia and sentenced him to serve 16 years in a maximum security prison.