Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday urged Russia’s foreign minister to release Evan Gershkovich, an American journalist detained last week on accusations of espionage.  

Blinken “conveyed the United States’ grave concern over Russia’s unacceptable detention” of an American journalist, according to a State Department statement that did not directly name Gershkovich. 

During the call, Blinken called for Russia to ensure the immediate release of the journalist and of former Marine Paul Whelan, who is also detained on espionage charges in Russia, the statement added. 

A U.S. official, speaking to the Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity, said that although the statement did not name Gershkovich, he is the journalist referred to.

Under U.S. law, the State Department is generally barred from speaking about an American citizen unless that person has signed a privacy waiver.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said that during the call Lavrov told Blinken that Washington should not politicize the arrest and said that a court would determine Gershkovich’s fate, according to Reuters.

The minister repeated claims made by other Russian officials last week that the journalist was caught “red handed” but did not provide evidence to back up that claim.

Sunday’s call was a rare moment of direct contact between Blinken and Lavrov, who have not had regular communication since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, was detained Wednesday in Yekaterinburg, a city about 800 miles from the Russian capital. 

A Moscow court on Friday ordered Gershkovich to be held in pre-trial detention until May 29. He is being held at Lefortovo prison in Moscow. 

Wall Street Journal Editor in Chief Emma Tucker has denied the allegations against Gershkovich. She said in an interview with CBS that she is reassured that Blinken and Lavrov spoke.

In a message to Journal staff on Friday, Tucker described Russia’s actions as “completely unjustified.” 

“[Gershkovich] is a member of the free press who right up until he was arrested was engaged in newsgathering. Any suggestions otherwise are false,” Tucker said in a message shared by the Journal’s communications department. 

On board Air Force One on Monday, principal deputy press secretary Olivia Dalton told reporters that the U.S. is seeking the journalist’s immediate release, adding, “these charges are ridiculous, and we want to see consular access to evidence as soon as possible.” 

The National Press Club in Washington has described Blinken’s call with Lavrov as “encouraging” but noted that the charges Russia has brought against Gershkovich “could not be of a more serious nature.”

A statement by the club’s president Eileen O’Reilly and Gil Klein, who leads the National Press Club Journalism Institute, said that Gershkovich has been denied access to the lawyer provided to him by the Journal.

“Not since the days of the Cold War has Russia taken a U.S. journalist hostage. For nearly 40 years, despite the ebbs and flows of tensions between our countries, our journalists have been able to operate without being arrested and imprisoned. Now that has changed,” the National Press Club statement said.

The media watchdog Reporters Without Borders has reported that Gershkovich’s lawyer was denied access to the hearing and that journalists were turned away from the court.

Some analysts have questioned whether the arrest is an attempt by Russia to gain leverage.

Several U.S. citizens are in detention in Russia, and both Washington and Moscow have accused the other of carrying out politically motivated arrests, Agence France-Presse reported.

In December 2022, Russia released from prison U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Griner had been serving a nine-year sentence on drug charges after being detained in Russia in February 2022.

Journal reporter Gershkovich has been working for the media company for just over a year, covering Russia and Ukraine.

His recent stories include coverage of economic problems in Russia, Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow, and the Russian jets that collided with a U.S. drone over the Black Sea.

The Journal, which has a paywall for its news website, has made Gershkovich’s stories publicly accessible since his arrest.

Before joining the Journal, Gershkovich worked in Moscow for AFP and spent three years as a reporter for The Moscow Times. He also was a news assistant at The New York Times.

On the same day that Blinken and Lavrov spoke, an explosion at a St. Petersburg café killed a military blogger who had strongly advocated for the war.

The explosion killed Vladlen Tatarsky, who is also known as Maxim Fomin, and injured about 30 others.

Tatarsky had been speaking at an event organized by a group named the Cyber Z Front — a reference to the letter “Z” that Russia adopted as a symbol of the war.

The 40-year-old Russian was among a group who have called on Moscow to take a more aggressive stance in Ukraine, Reuters reported.

Russian authorities detained a St. Petersburg woman, Darya Trepova, in connection with the attack. 

VOA’s Carolyn Presutti contributed to this report.
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