Moscow rejects US request to see WSJ reporter; Russia’s envoy visits prisoners in US jails

MOSCOW – Russia said on Thursday it had rejected a United States embassy request to visit detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in response to Washington’s refusal to grant visas to a group of Russian journalists.

The Foreign Ministry said it had summoned a senior American diplomat to formally protest after reporters assigned to accompany Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to the United Nations this week were unable to enter the US.

Hours later, Moscow’s envoy to Washington said he had visited two Russian prisoners being held in US jails.

Gershkovich was arrested in March and accused of espionage,

a charge he has denied. The US has designated him as wrongfully detained.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it had rejected a US request to pay a consular visit on May 11 and was considering other retaliation against Washington over the visa snub.

Moscow expressed anger because it was Russia’s turn to chair the United Nations Security Council.

“It was particularly emphasised (to the US diplomat) that such sabotage, intended to prevent normal journalistic work, would not go unanswered,” the ministry said in a statement.

Mr Lavrov sidestepped questions this week about a prisoner swop involving Gershkovich.

In 2022, US basketball star Brittney Griner –

imprisoned in Russia on drug charges

– was

exchanged for arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Russia’s embassy in Washington said that envoy Anatoly Antonov had gone to a New York jail on Wednesday to see Anatoly Legkodymov, arrested in January on charges that he operated virtual currency exchange Bitzlato. It called for his release.

The embassy also said Mr Antonov had seen Dmitry Ukrainsky, who was extradited from Thailand in 2022 to face fraud charges and is in the same jail.

“We will work for his return to his homeland,” the mission said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. REUTERS