US Ambassador to Russia Visits Imprisoned WSJ Journalist Evan Gershkovich

The US ambassador to Russia met on Friday with Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal journalist imprisoned in Moscow, days after his family requested help from the United Nations to bring him home. The United States Embassy in Russia confirmed Ambassador Lynne M. Tracy's visit, which was the fourth time that she has been meeting with Mr. Gershkovich since he was arrested by Russian authorities in March.

“He remains strong and follows the news, including the appearance of his parents at the UN this week,” the embassy said in a statement on social media. .

Mr. Gershkovich's family on Wednesday urged world leaders who will soon attend the United Nations General Assembly to join the call for his release.

“Next week, world leaders will gather here to discuss many important issues,” Mr. Gershkovich's father, Mikhail, said in New York. He called on those leaders to stand with his son, who , he says, represents “the fundamental right to freedom of the press and freedom of expression” – rights that are “the fundamental principles of the United Nations”.

Lawyers filed a petition Tuesday asking a U.N. panel of experts to side with the U.S. government and admit that Evan Gershkovich was being arbitrarily detained by Russia in violation of his human rights, a said the family.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The petition was submitted to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, a group of five human rights and legal experts international. The group has already assessed the detention of several journalists, including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who spent 544 days in prison in Iran before being released in a prisoner exchange in early 2016.

The United Nations group has no enforcement authority, but its determination that Mr. Gershkovich is arbitrarily detained would further increase pressure on Russia, already isolated from the West, so that she frees him.

Mrs. Tracy last met Mr. Gershkovich in mid-August. American officials said their Russian counterparts were preventing them from having regular consular access to Mr. Gershkovich, the first American journalist arrested on espionage charges in Russia since the end of the Cold War. The United States government considers him wrongfully detained and, like the Journal, has categorically denied the accusations against him.

Mr. Gershkovich's pre-trial detention will be extended until at least November 30, a Moscow court ruled last month following a secret procedure closed to the media. This court is expected to hear an appeal on Tuesday regarding this extension of pre-trial detention, according to the Journal.

The Kremlin has acknowledged that Russia could be open to an exchange of prisoners for Mr. Gershkovich.

Edward Wong contributed reporting.