Whereas the Government of the Russian Federation has arbitrarily and cruelly arrested United States citizens under false pretenses in order to extract bargaining leverage on unrelated matters; Whereas the Russian Federation is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council; Whereas, on March 29, 2023, the Government of the Russian Federation arrested United States citizen and accredited Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on fraudulent charges of espionage for his reporting on the Russian economy; Whereas Gershkovich has spent more than one year in pretrial detention in the notorious Lefortovo prison in Moscow, including in isolation with limited access to medical care and attorneys; Whereas, even during the Cold War, the Soviet Union never held a journalist from the United States for similar long-term detention, with the closest parallel being the 1986 arrest and 13-day detainment of U.S. News and World Report journalist Nicholas Daniloff; Whereas the Department of State determined on April 10, 2023, that Gershkovich has been wrongfully detained by the Government of the Russian Federation; Whereas, on December 28, 2018, the Government of the Russian Federation arrested United States citizen Paul Whelan and later convicted him on June 15, 2020, on fraudulent espionage charges; Whereas Whelan has spent nearly four years in various high-security jails and labor camps in the Russian Federation, while enduring solitary confinement, forced labor, and the denial of medical care; Whereas the Department of State determined on April 10, 2023, that Whelan has been wrongfully detained by the Government of the Russian Federation; Whereas United States Ambassador to the Russian Federation Lynne Tracy publicly stated on March 26, 2024, following Evan Gershkovich’s court hearing, Evan’s case is not about evidence, due process, or rule of law. It is about using American citizens as pawns to achieve political ends, as the Kremlin is doing in the case of Paul Whelan