Russia said Thursday it is denying an upcoming consular visit to detained U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich in retaliation for an American refusal to issue visas to several Russian journalists.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov complained last weekend that the United States had denied visas to Russian journalists set to travel with him to United Nations headquarters in New York.
In response, the Russian foreign ministry said Thursday, “The U.S. Embassy was informed that its request for a consular visit on May 11… to U.S. citizen Gershkovich, who was detained on charges of espionage, has been rejected.”
Moscow warned that “other potential retaliatory measures are being worked out.”
Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, was arrested last month while on a reporting assignment. Russia contends he was caught “red-handed” spying on a Russian military installation.
The U.S. ambassador to Moscow, Lynne Tracy, visited Gershkovich in a Moscow jail and watched as he made a court appearance. But Russia is holding him while he awaits trial, rejecting U.S. protests that he is being illegally detained.
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