The call was preceded by the arrest of a Wall Street Journal correspondent in Russia on espionage charges.
Washington has called on Americans traveling to or staying in Russia to leave the country immediately following the arrest of Wall Street Journal (WSJ) correspondent Evan Gershkovich. While according to Moscow “value in action”when trying to obtain state secrets, the United States a “press freedom” condemned the arrest as an attack on
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that Washington “deeply concerned” because of the development, adding that “we condemn in the strongest possible terms the Kremlin’s ongoing attempts to intimidate, suppress and punish journalists and civil society voices”.
“We reiterate our strong warnings about the threat to American citizens within the Russian Federation. US citizens in or traveling to Russia should leave immediately.” says the senior diplomat in his statement.
A similar message was conveyed by the White House, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated that “it is unacceptable that the Russian government is targeting American citizens”.
“We also condemn the Russian government’s continued targeting and repression of journalists and press freedom” – he added, calling on the Americans to “heed the US government’s warning and do not travel to Russia”or leave the country immediately if they are already there.
John Kirby, a spokesman for the US National Security Council, softened the call somewhat, explaining that Washington is not actually calling on Americans to literally leave Russia, nor is it encouraging news agencies to pull their correspondents out of the country.
Gerskovich, a WSJ correspondent who covers news from Russia, Ukraine and the former Soviet Union, was detained in the city of Yekaterinburg on suspicion of espionage, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) announced earlier. According to Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman, the journalist “deed value”, while trying to obtain Russian state secrets.