Washington, Bruselas
The White House has accused Russia of targeting US citizens and said it is in contact with Vladimir Putin’s government after the arrest of journalist Evan Gershkovich.
“The fact that the Russian government is targeting American citizens is unacceptable. We condemn the arrest of Mr. Gershkovich in the strongest terms,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
The Lefortovo court in Moscow ordered this Thursday two months of preventive detention for Gershkovich, an American journalist for The Wall Street Journal detained in Russia for alleged espionage.
According to a source from the security services cited by the TASS agency, the reporter, who could be sentenced to 20 years in prison, has pleaded not guilty before the judge.
Jean-Pierre explained that the US government is “deeply concerned” by the “disturbing reports” and specified that White House and State Department officials spoke with the Wall Street Journal as well as with his family.
“The State Department has been in direct contact with the Russian government on this matter, including actively working to secure consular access for Mr. Gershkovich,” Jean-Pierre said in a statement condemning “the continued attacks and repression of the Russian Executive against journalists and freedom of the press”.
“I want to strongly reiterate that Americans should heed the US government’s warning not to travel to Russia. US citizens residing in or traveling to Russia should leave immediately, as the State Department continues to advise,” the spokeswoman said.
Later, in a press conference, Jean-Pierre considered that the charges brought against Gershkovich are “incredibly ridiculous”.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed in another statement that his cabinet’s highest priority is the safety of Americans abroad, and condemned the “repeated attempts by the Kremlin to intimidate, repress, and punish journalists and voices of society.” civil.
For its part, the European Union (EU) condemned the detention of the American journalist in Russia and criticized the “systematic contempt” of that country for the media.
“This was stated by the high representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, through a message on his official Twitter profile.
The head of community diplomacy stressed that “journalists must be able to freely exercise their profession and deserve protection.”
“The Russian authorities demonstrate once again their systematic contempt for the freedom of the media,” concluded the Spanish politician.
