The White House reported on Biden’s conversation with the relatives of the arrested Gershkovich

US President Joe Biden held the first conversation with the relatives of The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) journalist Evan Gershkovich arrested in Russia on charges of espionage. This was announced by White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre during a briefing, transmits CNN.

“The president has made it clear that his national security team is focused on efforts to free Evan, as well as Paul Whelan,” she said.

After that, CNN published a statement from the Gershkovich family, which expressed gratitude to the State Department and the US President for the actions aimed at returning the journalist home. “We are encouraged that the State Department has officially recognized Evan as wrongfully detained. We appreciate President Biden’s call today, reassuring us that the US government is doing everything in its power to bring him home as quickly as possible,” the document said.

Gershkovich was detained in Yekaterinburg on March 30. According to the FSB, the journalist collected secret information about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex. On the same day, the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov, commenting on this incident, saidthat the journalist was “caught red-handed.”

The WSJ denied the FSB accusations and demanded the immediate release of Gershkovich. The newspaper clarified that the journalist works in the Moscow office of the newspaper and covers events in Russia. On March 31, the WSJ called for the expulsion of all Russian journalists working in the US, as well as the Russian ambassador to the US. On this Peskov declaredthat Washington has no reason to expel them.

On March 30, Gershkovich was sent to a pre-trial detention center until May 29. April 7 FSB presented he is charged with espionage (Article 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The maximum punishment under this article provides for imprisonment for up to 20 years.