"The request of the US Embassy in Moscow for a consular visit to the reporter E. Gershkovich, arrested for espionage, is once again rejected in response to the non-issuance of visas to Russian journalists from the pool of Foreign Minister S.V. Lavrov," the ministry said in a statement.
It is clarified that due to the situation with visas, media workers could not fly to New York to accompany the minister during his visit to the United States as part of Russia's presidency of the UN Security Council.
Earlier, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that the issue of consular access to Gershkovich is politicized by the United States.
The journalist was detained in Yekaterinburg on March 30. According to the FSB of Russia, on the instructions of the United States, he collected information about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.
The Russian Foreign Ministry reported that in connection with the disruption of the issuance of visas to media representatives from the journalistic pool of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who were supposed to accompany him on a trip to New York as part of the Russian presidency of the UN Security Council, it was decided to reject the request of the US Embassy for a consular visit to WSJ journalist Evan Gershkovich on May 11.