Russia says it maintains “working” contacts with US over detained US journalist

12 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The Russian authorities have confirmed this Wednesday that they maintain “working” contacts with the United States regarding the situation of the American journalist Evan Gershkovich, detained in Yekaterinburg for alleged espionage.

“Yes, of course. At the work level,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov said after being asked if these contacts exist, before adding that this fact does not change Moscow’s position on the case, according to the Russian news agency TASS.

During the day on Tuesday, the Kremlin spokesman, Dimitri Peskov, affirmed that the United States “can and must protect the rights” of the American journalist Evan Gershkovich, although he reiterated that “it will be a court that makes a decision” on the case.

Peskov’s words came hours after the US State Department officially classified the case of the journalist, who works for The Wall Street Journal, as “wrong imprisonment.”

Gershkovich had been gathering information about the Wagner Group, owned by oligarch Yevgeni Prigozhin, who is considered a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin and has sent mercenaries to Ukraine and other countries.