The United States announced on April 27 sanctions against Russia’s security service, the FSB, in light of Moscow’s detainment of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
The Biden administration also announced sanctions against Iran for wrongfully detaining Americans.
“These actors in Russia and Iran have tried to use Americans for political leverage or to seek concessions from the United States,” a senior administration official told reporters in a call.
“These actions threaten the stability and integrity of the international political system and also threaten the safety of U.S. nationals and other persons abroad.”
The official said the United States would sanction the FSB “for being responsible for, or complicit in, directly or indirectly engaged in, or responsible for, ordering, controlling or otherwise directing the wrongful detention of U.S. nationals abroad.”…}