His contact Sergey Lavrov by Anthony Blinken for the American journalist Ivan Gerskovich, on Sunday.

The Russian foreign minister told his US counterpart that “it is unacceptable for Washington to politicize the case” of the Wall Street Journal correspondent who has been arrested and charged with espionage in Russia.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Lavrov told Blinken that Gershkovich’s fate “will be determined by the court.” He repeated Russia’s claim, for which it has not publicly provided any evidence, that the journalist was caught red-handed last week.

“Sergei Lavrov drew Blinken’s attention to the need to respect the decisions of the Russian authorities, made in accordance with the legislation and international obligations of the Russian Federation,” the ministry said.

“It was emphasized that it is unacceptable for officials in Washington and the Western media to create a stir with the clear intention of giving a political color to this case.” The conversation between the two men was initiated by Anthony Blinken, added the Russian side.

For his part, Anthony Blinken called on his Russian counterpart to immediately release Gershkovich, as well as another imprisoned American, Paul Whelan, as announced by the State Department.

Whelan, a Michigan businessman, has been imprisoned in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges that his family and the US government have called unfounded. He is serving a 16-year sentence.

Blinken and Lavrov also discussed “the importance of creating an enabling environment for diplomatic missions to carry out their work,” according to the State Department.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), in a statement, accused the 32-year-old Gershkovic of “taking instructions from the US, collecting information about one of Russia’s military industry companies, which is a state secret.”

“The FSB prevented the illegal activity of the correspondent accredited to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (…) of the Moscow office of the American newspaper Wall Street Journal, a citizen of the United States Ivan Gershkovich.”

For its part, the Wall Street Journal pointed out that “he categorically refuses the allegations of the FSB and calls for the immediate release of the trusted and dedicated journalist.” She even expressed her solidarity with both Gerskovichos and his family.

The Wall Street Journal called for the immediate release of Ivan Gershkovic, whose arrest and charges against the US presidency have been described as “ridiculous”.