White House: Freeing Whelan, Gershkovich 'Potentially Tough'

The White House this week warned that despite "very active" talks with Russia, it will be "potentially tough" to bring incarcerated Americans Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich home.

Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who had previously received accreditation from the Russian Foreign Ministry to work in the country as a journalist, was arrested last March after being accused of espionage. Whelan, a businessman and Marine Corps veteran, was sentenced to 16 years in prison after being convicted of espionage in 2020. Both have denied claims that they are spies and Washington has declared both of them to be wrongfully detained.

"I can tell you there's not a single day since Evan has been incarcerated that we haven't worked on that case," said John Kirby, the National Security Council's coordinator for strategic communications, in an interview with MSNBC this week.

He noted that the issue is complicated because Whelan and Greshkovich were both charged with espionage.

"Because it's espionage, the Russians sort of treat them differently. So it's going to be, you know, could be potentially tough to continue to work to get them back," Kirby said.

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