The US State Department recognized as “wrongfully detained” WSJ journalist Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested in the Russian Federation on charges of espionage – this is equivalent to the status of a hostage and expands the powers of the State Department.
Source: Wall Street Journal
Details: The Gershkovich case is now being handled by the State Department unit that negotiates the release of hostages and other people who are considered illegally detained abroad.
The WSJ reports that this status expands the powers of the State Department, allowing you to put pressure on another country, control intelligence, create diplomatic coalitions, put pressure on the media and fight for regular consular access.
According to the State Department, “every illegal detention is different, and there is no single predetermined way to ensure the safe release of a person who has been illegally detained abroad.”
The State Department calls on Russia to immediately release Gershkovich, as well as American Paul Whelan, convicted in 2020 on charges of espionage, whom the United States also considers “wrongly detained.”
Background:
- The arrest of the Wall Street Journal journalist became known on March 29. The FSB believes that the journalist “on the instructions of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.”
- The publication denied Russia’s accusations of espionage and demanded the release of the journalist.
- Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov claims that he was taken “at the scene of the crime.” According to Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in Yekaterinburg Gershkovich was engaged in work that “has nothing to do with journalism.”
- The Moscow court arrested the journalist until May 29.
