President Joe Biden asked Russia to free US journalist Evan Gershkovich on Friday after the nation's security agency detained him on espionage accusations.
On Friday morning, when asked by White House correspondents about his message to Russia over the detention of the Wall Street Journal reporter, President Joe Biden said, "Let him go," according to AP News.
Russia imprisoned an American journalist for espionage for the first time since the Cold War, per CNN. Only last week, US officials accused a Russian citizen, Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, of being a Russian spy and announced accusations against him.
The Russian Federal Security Agency has charged Evan Gershkovich, 31, with seeking to obtain secret information. The Wall Street Journal has issued a "vehement" denial of the allegations.
Vice President Kamala Harris noted during a media briefing in Lusaka, Zambia, that the government is "deeply concerned" about Evan Gershkovich's detention.
Kamala Harris stated: "We will not allow - and condemn, in fact - persecution of journalists."
Biden Administration Taking Necessary Steps To Help Evan Gershkovich
On Thursday, the Biden administration announced that they were taking steps to provide Evan Gershkovich consular access. When asked on Friday morning whether he would deport Russian journalists or diplomats working in the United States, Biden noted that his administration is not planning such measures at the moment.
The Biden administration has also advised Americans currently in Russia to leave the country immediately and has advised against traveling there.
Evan Gershkovich is the latest high-profile American imprisoned by Russia since basketball player Brittney Griner, who was nabbed landing in Moscow with cannabis oil one week before the start of the Russia-Ukraine war and released in a prisoner exchange 10 months afterward, according to Reuters.
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