U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressured his Russian foreign minister in a phone call on Sunday to release the recently detained Wall Street Journal reporter, who was detained by Russia last week engage in espionage.
According to an official statement about the call, Blinken told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that the detentions of Evan Gershkovich and another wrongly detained American, Paul Paul Whelan is “unacceptable” and should be released immediately.
“Secretary Blinken conveyed the serious concerns of the United States regarding Russia’s unacceptable detention of an American citizen journalist,” the statement said. “Secretary Blinken further urged the Kremlin to immediately release wrongly detained American citizen Paul Whelan. Blinken and Foreign Minister Lavrov also discussed the importance of creating an environment in which the diplomatic corps can work.”
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