Russia has denied a request from the United States for a consular visit to jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was detained last month on charges of espionage.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it rejected a U.S. request for a May 11 visit in response to the U.S. not granting visas to Russian journalists who wanted to join Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to the United Nations.
“The U.S. Embassy was informed in this connection that its request for consular access to U.S. citizen Gershkovich, detained on suspicion of espionage, on May 11 was declined,” the ministry said.
Gershkovich was detained at the end of March after officials alleged that he was trying to gain access to classified information. The Russian Federal Security Service accused him of acting on orders from the U.S. government to conduct spying.
U.S. officials and the Journal have rejected the accusations and demanded his release. The State Department declared him to be wrongfully detained earlier this month. Gershkovich has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The Journal denounced the arrest as a “vicious affront to a free press.”
The U.S. has been pushing for Russia to allow a consular visit with Gershkovich, but Lavrov said after the visas were denied that the Russian government “will not forget and will not forgive.”
The U.S. responded by saying Russia’s U.S. mission members had been reminded to submit applications early and its visa processing capacity has been hampered by Russia’s actions against the U.S. embassy in Russia.
Eileen O’Reilly, president of the National Press Club, and Gil Klein, president of the National Press Club Journalism Institute, condemned Russia’s denial of the request to visit Gershkovich in a joint statement.
“Denying these visits amounts to torture,” they said. “The UN Convention on Torture defines solitary confinement of more than 15 days as torture. Evan has been held twice that long. His only relief is during consular visits. They are essential and must be continued on a regular basis.”
O’Reilly and Klein also criticized Russia for acting in retaliation for the denial of the visas, arguing that they are not suffering in any way as Gershkovich is because of the rejection.
“Creating an equivalence between their situation and Evan’s is false and immoral,” they said. “Punishing Evan because of the visa policy of his government is cruel.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.