Russian diplomacy admitted on Wednesday that it has not yet authorized a representative of the US consulate to visit journalist Evan Gershkovich in prison, arrested during a report in Russia and charged with espionage.
“We are analyzing the issue,” replied Deputy Foreign Minister Sergueï Ryabkov. to the Russian agencies who asked him if the journalist could be visited by a representative of his embassy almost two weeks after his arrest.
On Washington’s decision to treat Gershkovich’s case as an “arbitrary detention”, allowing him to turn the case over to the US special envoy for the hostages, Ryabkov said the Russia will not accept “any attempted pressure”.
“We don’t care what status Washington has given it,” he said.
“We will act in accordance with our internal imperatives, our standards, our laws,” he added.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry also said in a statement that “the status was that [à detenção] by US authorities is immaterial”.
On March 30, Russian security services announced the arrest of the Wall Street Journal’s Moscow correspondent and former AFP journalist while reporting from Yekaterinburg, in the Urals. Russia has accused him of espionage and the file is considered classified.
Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal and US officials reject the Russian accusations.
Source: DN
