The measure urging Moscow to release Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter arrested on assignment, and Paul Whelan, a former Marine, earned the unanimous backing of the House.
The United States also announced sanctions on Iran’s intelligence services, seeking to punish foreign governments for detention of Americans by cutting off access to the international financial system.
The channel to discuss detained American and Russian citizens, created in 2021, remains open, Sergey V. Lavrov said. But, he added, publicity ‘will only complicate the process.’
The Biden administration recently secured the release of two Americans convicted of criminal charges in Russia, but even fabricated charges of spying can raise the stakes.