One week after Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was denied his appeal to be released from pre-trial detention, the U.S. ambassador to Russia was allowed a visit with him.

U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy visited Evan on Tuesday, her fifth visit since he was detained. The U.S. Embassy in Moscow posted a statement on X. “Evan remains in good spirits despite his challenging circumstances. We continue to call for his immediate release.” Not exactly attention-grabbing words there but we deal with foreign detentions with the ambassadors we have, right?

To recap, Evan Gershkovich is a 31-year-old American citizen. He was working as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in their Moscow bureau. He has been accredited by Russia’s Foreign Ministry to work as a journalist in Russia. While on a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg on March 29, he was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB), who accused him of espionage. The WSJ, the U.S. government, and Evan deny he is a spy.

The Biden administration has said Gershkovich, the first American journalist arrested on an espionage accusation in Russia since the end of the Cold War, isn’t a spy and has never worked for the government. The State Department has designated the reporter as wrongfully detained, a status that unlocks a broad U.S. government effort to free him.

By declaring an American is wrongfully detained, the State Department gains more tools in its toolbox to get an American like Evan released. Keep in mind, though, that Evan is being detained to send a message. Putin uses Americans detained as leverage in prisoner swaps. For example, WNBC basketball player Brittney Griner was swapped by Russia for a notorious Russian arms dealer with the blood of Americans on his hands. Other Americans have been imprisoned in Russia for longer than Gershkovick, yet they receive a lot less publicity than Evan. That is likely because the WSJ refuses to put the story on he back burner. To their credit, they keep Evan’s story in the forefront.

Relations between the United States and Russia have been more strained than usual since Putin’s invasion into Ukraine. He will likely be held until the United States elects a new president.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed the U.S. for the war, saying that Washington has pursued a foreign policy that has destabilized the world and threatened Russia. Washington has condemned Moscow’s assault on its smaller neighbor as unjustified. The U.S. and its European allies have imposed tough sanctions on Russia and are providing large-scale military and economic aid to Ukraine in its fight to expel Russian forces from its territory.

It is true that an American president seen as weak on the world stage is dangerous for Americans living overseas. Putin didn’t invade Ukraine during the Trump years in office. He clearly had no qualms against doing so with Joe Biden in the White House. Russia is slow to allow Americans held captive a consular visit.

The issue of consular access to Americans who are jailed in Russia has been a contentious one between the U.S. and Russia. The 1963 Vienna Convention signed by both countries requires that states be allowed consular access to their nationals who are arrested or detained in other nations.

Russia has shown no proof that Evan is a spy. Espionage trials are conducted in secret in Moscow. Recently, it has been reported that a deal may be in the works for the release of Evan and another American, Paul Whelan. However, it likely won’t happen until after Evan’s trial takes place. Whelan is a U.S. citizen and former Marine. He is also detained on espionage charges. He was convicted in 2020 and received a 16-year sentence which he is serving now in a Russian penal colony.