US envoy to UN urges Russian foreign minister to free detainees

At the UN Security Council, the US envoy says that Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich have been used by Moscow as “human pawns.”

The United States envoy to the United Nations has appealed directly to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to release two American citizens currently being held in Russia.

At a UN Security Council meeting on Monday chaired by Lavrov, Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged Russia to release former US Marine Paul Whelan and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

“I’m calling on you right now to release Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich immediately, to let Paul and Evan come home. And to end this barbaric practice once and for all,” said the ambassador at UN headquarters in New York City.

She added that the men were used as “political bargaining chips” and “human pawns”.

“Using humans as pawns is a strategy of weakness. These are not the actions of a responsible country. And while Russia plays political games, real people suffer,” said Thomas-Greenfield.

Earlier this month, the administration of US President Joe Biden formally labeled Gershkovich as “unjustly detained.” Russia arrested him at the end of March on espionage charges.

The Wall Street Journal and press freedom groups have dismissed the allegations as baseless, and Washington has repeatedly called on Moscow to release the journalist.

Whelan, for his part, was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020 on espionage charges that are also dismissed as false by the US.

Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth, was in the UN Security Council chamber on Monday, and Thomas-Greenfield urged Lavrov to “look her in the eye and see her suffering”.

“I want you to see what it’s like to miss your brother for four years. To know that he is locked up in a Russian penal colony simply because you want to use him for your own purposes,” the US envoy said.

Later in the day, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan took a moment to “recognize and correct” Elizabeth Whelan’s comments at a press briefing at the White House.

“She is an incredible voice for all of us outraged by the practice of wrongful detention,” Sullivan said.

He also criticized Russia for “rebuffing” attempts to return Whelan to the US. “We will keep working until we bring Paul home, and we will keep working until we bring home Evan and all the Americans around the world who are wrongly held or held hostage,” Sullivan said.

Late last year, Russia released American basketball player Brittney Griner, who was detained in Moscow last year on drug charges, as part of a prisoner swap that did not involve Whelan, raising concerns about his fate.

Relations between Washington and Moscow deteriorated after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February, and the detention of Griner and other American citizens has increased those tensions.

On Sunday, Russia accused US authorities of denying visas to journalists who wanted to cover Lavrov’s trip to New York, and Russia’s foreign minister suggested Moscow retaliate.

“A country that calls itself the strongest, smartest, free and fair country has erred and done a stupid thing by showing what its sworn guarantees about protecting freedom of expression and access to information are really worth,” said Lavrov. before leaving the Russian capital.

“Make sure we won’t forget and won’t forgive,” he said.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov added that his country “will find ways to respond to this so that the Americans will remember for a long time not to do this”.

The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Associated Press news agency about the claim of denied visas.