Russian authorities have denied a request for a consular visit to US journalist Evan Gershkovich, who has been imprisoned for a month in Russia, they said Thursday. This decision was made in retaliation for the US’s refusal to grant visas to Russian journalists. The Russian Foreign Ministry informed the US Embassy that the request for a consular visit to see the US citizen detained for espionage was rejected. Moscow complained last Sunday after the United States denied visas to Russian journalists who were to accompany Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during his visit to the UN in New York.
The Russian Foreign Ministry warned that other possible retaliatory measures are currently being worked out, and the US side will be informed in due course. Russian diplomacy said it had summoned a “senior US diplomat” to the Foreign Ministry and expressed its “protest” against Washington’s “provocative actions.”
This new episode of tensions between Moscow and Washington comes just weeks after the imprisonment of journalist Evan Gershkovich, the Moscow correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. The Russian authorities accuse him of “espionage,” an accusation denied by both the journalist and the US authorities. Lynne Tracy, US Ambassador to Russia, was able to visit him on April 17. Evan Gershkovich could be sentenced to 20 years in prison.