U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss the release of the U.S. national Evan Gershkovich, who was detained in Russia on espionage charges, the Russian foreign ministry said on Sunday. The call was initiated by the U.S. side.
"In light of the established evidence of the U.S. national’s illegal activities, his future will be determined by court. The American embassy in Moscow was duly notified about his detention," the ministry said.
"In the context of the discussion of the issue of the detention of U.S. national Gershkovich in Russia on suspicion of espionage, which was raised by the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken’s attention was drawn to the necessity to respect the Russian authorities’ decision made in conformity with law and Russia’s international commitments," the ministry said.
"Lavrov stressed that Gershkovich had been detained red-handed when he was receiving secret data and was collecting data constituting a state secret acting under the guise of a journalist’s status," the statement reads.
The Russian top diplomat also told his U.S. counterparts that it is inadmissible to fan hysteria around the journalist’s arrest. "It was stressed that it is inadmissible for Washington officials and Western mass media to stir up hysteria with an obvious aim of giving a political overtone to this case," the ministry said.
According to the ministry, Sergey Lavrov and Blinken also touched upon several other bilateral matters.
