Lavrov and Blinken discussed the detention of WSJ journalist Gershkovich by phone

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken discussed in a telephone conversation the detention in Yekaterinburg of the American journalist of The Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich, who is suspected of espionage. This was stated in the Russian Foreign Ministry.

“In the context of the discussion raised by the Secretary of State about the detention in Russia of a US citizen Gershkovich suspected of espionage, Blinken’s attention was drawn to the need to respect the decisions of the Russian authorities, taken in accordance with the law and international obligations of the Russian Federation,” – follows from the statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Also, the United States Secretary of State was pointed out the inadmissibility of giving the case of the WSJ journalist a political color.

“The inadmissibility of whipping up a stir by officials in Washington and the Western media with the clear intention of giving this case a political coloring was emphasized,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Another head of the Russian Foreign Ministry and the US Secretary of State discussed some topical issues of a bilateral nature.

The telephone conversation between Lavrov and Blinken took place at the initiative of Washington.

Gershkovich was detained by the FSB in Yekaterinburg while trying to obtain secret information about one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex. On March 30, the Lefortovo Court of Moscow sent the American to a pre-trial detention center.

As noted in the Kremlin, detailed information about the detention and the case of Gershkovich is classified. At the same time, the press secretary of the head of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov, emphasized that the American suspected of espionage was “caught red-handed.”