American journalist Evan Gershkovich, arrested on espionage charges, stands within the defendants’ cage before trial to listen to an appeal against his arrest at a Moscow City Court, April 18, 2023.
Natalia Kolesnikova | afp | Getty Images
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Thursday announced the primary round of sanctions targeting Russia and Iran for their involvement in hostage-taking and illegal detention of U.S. residents abroad.
The U.S. sanctions goal Russia’s Federal Security Service, often often known as the FSB, and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Intelligence Organization (IRGC-IO) for “responsibility or complicity in, directly or not directly, involvement in or responsibility for ordering, controlling, or directing other way of unlawfully detaining a U.S. citizen abroad.”
Two senior administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in step with ground rules set by the White House, said Thursday’s sanctions were underway before Russian authorities detained US citizen Evan Gershkovich last month.
Gershkovich, a journalist for The Wall Street Journal, was arrested in late March on espionage charges. The State Department has formally applied for recognition that Gershkovich’s detention was illegal, opening up additional resources for his release.
The Biden administration and The Wall Street Journal executives have denied Russian claims that Gershkovich is a spy.
The administration has identified a minimum of two U.S. residents who’re unjustly detained in Russia and three in Iran, in addition to one lawful U.S. everlasting resident.
One administration official said relevant families were informed of the brand new sanctions ahead of Thursday’s announcement.
The Treasury Department also announced sanctions against the next individuals in Iran:
- Ruhollah Bazghandi, an IRGC-IO counterintelligence officer, was involved within the detention of foreign prisoners held in Iran. The department says its work for the IRGC-IO includes attacks on journalists, Israeli residents and others deemed enemies of Iran.
- In response to the department, Mohammad Kazemi, commander of the IRGC-IO, oversees civil society suppression operations in Iran, including the regime’s crackdown on protests across the country in response to the assassination of Mahsa Amini. He was previously appointed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control in October.
- Mohamad Mehdi Sayyari, co-deputy head of the IRGC-IO, was directly involved in organizing logistics for prisoners in Iran.
- Mohammad Hasan Mohagheghi, the co-deputy head of the IRGC-IO, serves as a liaison between senior IRGC officials and IRGC-IO officials in counterintelligence operations in Syria, the department said.
“Our motion is a warning to those all over the world who illegally detained US residents concerning the potential consequences of their actions,” a senior administration official said during a telephone conversation with reporters.
“These actors in Russia and Iran were attempting to use the Americans to exert political influence or solicit concessions from the USA. These actions threaten the soundness and integrity of the international political system. In addition they threaten the protection of U.S. residents and others abroad,” the person added.
“The sanctions are designed to alter behavior and encourage higher behavior, and we hope they will contribute to that now and in the longer term,” said a second official.
“I do not know what my brother looks like anymore”
Former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who’s being held on espionage charges, is caged in a courtroom after a ruling to increase his detention, Moscow, Russia, February 22, 2019.
Shamil Zhumatov | Reuters
Lately, Russia has detained several Americans in high-profile incidents.
Former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan was arrested by Russian authorities in 2018 on suspicion of spying for the USA. In response to his brother, David Whelan, on the time of his arrest, Whelan was visiting Moscow to attend a marriage.
Paul Whelan was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years of hard labor in a Russian camp within the distant province of Mordovia.
Through the opening speeches before Monday During a gathering of the UN Security Council, US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield spoke directly with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and called for the immediate release of Gershkowicz and Whelan, who were detained in Russia.
Thomas-Greenfield invited Elizabeth Whelan, Paul Whelan’s sister, to a gathering of the UN Security Council.
“I would like Minister Lavrov to look her in the attention and see her suffering,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “I would like you to see what it’s wish to miss your brother for 4 years. To know he’s locked up in a Russian penal colony simply because you would like to use him for your personal purposes.”
Elizabeth Whelan, Paul Whelan’s sister, stands as she was recognized by U.S. Representative to UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield during a Security Council meeting at United Nations Headquarters April 24, 2023 in Recent York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
“I do not know what my brother looks like anymore. The photographs we see on TV and the news? That is Paul Whelan within the life he led before he was taken prisoner. Nobody has been in a position to take an image of him since his trial almost three years ago,” Elizabeth Whelan told reporters on the United Nations.
She drew several parallels between her brother and Gershkovich, including the espionage charges against them and their subsequent detention in Lefortovo Prison.
“This Russian guide is so lazy that even Evan has the identical investigator, the person who harassed and interrogated my brother until Paul’s fictitious trial in June 2020,” she added.
In December, President Joe Biden signed a prisoner exchange deal that will free WNBA star Brittney Griner in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor But.
Bout, often known as “The Merchant of Death” because he was considered one in all the world’s largest illegal arms dealers, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison in 2012.
Griner’s release negotiations originally also involved Whelan.
“I’m proud that today we’ve got created another family,” Biden said on the time, adding that he would proceed to work to free Whelan. “We are going to proceed to barter relief for Paul. I guarantee it.”
Griner, who played skilled basketball in Russia through the WNBA off-season, was arrested in February 2022 at a Russian airport on charges of smuggling cannabis oil cartridges. The 2-time Olympic gold medalist was sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony before being released.
American basketball player Brittney Griner, who was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport and later charged with illegal marijuana possession, peers into the defendants’ cage ahead of a court hearing in Khimki near Moscow, Russia, August 2, 2022.
Yevgeny Novozhenina | Reuters
In April, Russia agreed to release former Marine Trevor Reed in a prisoner exchange with the USA.
Reed was charged with assaulting a Russian officer and detained by Russian authorities in 2019. He was later sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison. Reed and his family maintained his innocence, and he was described by the U.S. government as being unjustly imprisoned.
In an effort to free Reed, Biden agreed to free Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the USA.
Former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed, who was detained in 2019 and charged with assaulting law enforcement officials, stands within the defendants’ cage during a court hearing in Moscow, Russia, March 11, 2020.
Tatyana Makeeva | Reuters
On the time, Reed’s family thanked Biden and also said they might proceed to act on Whelan’s behalf.
Biden, who didn’t specifically mention the prisoner exchange within the statement, said his administration “is not going to stop until Paul Whelan and others join Trevor within the loving arms of family and friends.”