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The US ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, has jailed the journalist of the American daily Wall Street Journal, Evan Gershkovich, the US Department of State has announced.
This is the third such visit that has been made, since the journalist's imprisonment in March, under accusations of espionage, which he denies.
"Ambassador Tracy has said that Evan continues to enjoy good health and is strong, despite the circumstances," a State Department spokesman said, adding that Washington expects Moscow to continue providing access to visits.
"The United States calls on the Russian Federation to immediately release Evan Gershkovich and release the other American citizen, Paul Whelan, who has been wrongfully imprisoned," the spokesman said, among other things.
Russia has said it caught Gershkovich trying to obtain military secrets while on a trip to the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, but has not provided evidence to support the claim.
Whelan, a former US Marine, was detained in Moscow in 2018 and is now serving a 16-year sentence on espionage charges.
Russia has agreed in the past to exchange prisoners with the United States.
The latest case was last year, when American basketball star Brittney Griner was exchanged for Viktor Bout, the Russian arms trafficker who was convicted in the United States.
However, Moscow has said that Gershkovich's exchange cannot take place until a decision is made on him, although no date has been set for the start of the trial.
Relations between the US and Russia are at the lowest level in more than six decades, as a result of the launch of Moscow's war in Ukraine in February 2022./ REL
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