in a Moscow prison on Monday, their second such meeting since Gershkovich was arrested in March on espionage charges.
Gershkovich, the U.S. government and the Wall Street Journal have strongly denied the espionage charges, the first against an American reporter in Russia since the Cold War. Tracy first met with Gershkovich on April 17, more than two weeks after his arrest. Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs at the State Department, said last week that Tracy saw Gershkovich at a recent hearing where his . But U.S. officials haven't been able to talk with him in weeks because the Russians have declined to provide consular access, he said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last Thursday at a Council on Foreign Relations event that the U.S. had sought consular access to Gershkovich"virtually every day."