US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken had a phone call with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, today, Sunday.
Blinken called for the “immediate” release of the American journalist, who was arrested this week in Russia on charges of espionage.
Vedant Patel, a spokesman for the US State Department, said that Blinken “expressed the United States’ grave concern over Russia’s unacceptable arrest of an American journalist,” adding that “the Secretary of State called for his immediate release,” and also demanded the release of another American, Paul Whelan.
In turn, Lavrov said that he denounced the “media uproar” in the West about the arrest of an American journalist in Russia, pointing out that the fate of the latter “will be determined by a court.”
“It is unacceptable for officials in Washington and Western media to raise a fuss with a clear intention to give this issue a political dimension,” the Russian foreign minister added, in a statement.
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