New tension between Moscow And Washington came to add an extension of the American’s arrest journalist Evan Gerskovich, accused by the Russian authorities of espionage, which both he and the Wall Street Journal, for which he works, vehemently deny.

Yesterday, a court in the Russian capital rejected the appeal of his lawyers Gerskovich, which means that the correspondent of the American newspaper will continue to be in prison until at least May 29, while the investigating authorities are investigating his case. The 31-year-old journalist was detained last month in the city of Yekaterinburg in the Urals region during a special forces raid while reporting.

For the first time since 1986, an American journalist has been arrested for espionage. The Russians claim he was arrested “of his own free will” while spying on the Russian defense industry.

Gerskovich’s immediate release was requested by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken from Seoul, South Korea, where he attended the Group of Seven (G7) meeting. US Ambassador to Moscow Lynn Tracy was able to visit the journalist for the first time in a pre-trial detention center on Monday. During yesterday’s hearing, Greskovich appeared calm and smiling inside the glass cage that surrounded him. A little earlier, Russian anti-war activist Yaroslav Sirshikov, who was the first to announce the arrest of an American, was arrested. However, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov left open the possibility of releasing the journalist as part of a prisoner exchange with the United States, but only after his trial is over.

Russian-British journalist and activist Vladimir Kara-Murza has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Yesterday, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the US, British and Canadian ambassadors to protest alleged “interference in Russia’s internal affairs.” The three ambassadors called for the immediate release of Gershkovich, but at the same time strongly disapproved of opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza’s 25-year prison term.

Kara-Murza, 41, is an activist and journalist with dual citizenship, Russian and British. On Monday, a Moscow court sentenced him to the maximum term of imprisonment, finding him guilty of high treason. A staunch critic of Vladimir Putin, Kara-Murza has for years urged the West to impose sanctions on Russia and senior officials for human rights violations, condemning the war in Ukraine from the start. The cornerstone of the scandal for Russian prosecutors was his speech in the Arizona US House of Representatives in March 2022, where he launched into a tirade against the Russian president and his government. He was a close associate of Boris Nemtsov, one of his most important opponents. Putinnear the Kremlin, in 2015.

Meanwhile, Russian state media published reports yesterday that Vladimir Putin visited areas held by Russian forces in the Kherson region in eastern Ukraine and eastern Luhansk a day earlier on Easter Monday. The President of Russia held meetings with military leaders in the areas under consideration, where possible points of the Ukrainian counterattack, which is expected this spring, are being determined. It was the second time since the start of the war that the Kremlin leader had taken such an initiative – the first time last month when he visited the Crimean peninsula and Mariupol in the east of the Donetsk region.

Commenting on Putin’s visit, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhail Podolyak said that the Russian leader “visited the scene of his crimes” and that his trip was a “special trip” (an ironic reference to “special military operation”, a Russian euphemism for the war they unleashed)” in the occupied and devastated lands.” For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday visited Ukrainian troops in the city of Avdifka, Donetsk region, one of the hottest spots on the front in recent months.