The U.S. ambassador in Moscow on Tuesday demanded that Russia free Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and said that the Kremlin was using him and other American citizens as pawns.
The latest decision to extend Gershkovich's pre-trial detention on Tuesday "feels particularly painful, as this week marks one year since Evan was arrested and wrongfully detained," Ambassador Lynne Tracy said.
"Evan's case is not about evidence, due process, or rule of law. It is about using American citizens as pawns to achieve political ends, as the Kremlin is also doing in the case of Paul Whelan."
Whelan was arrested in Moscow in 2018. He was convicted of spying and sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020.
