US tells Russian minister Putin should release detained Americans including Gershkovich and Whelan [Video]

TANZANIA – The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations told Russia’s foreign minister on Tuesday that President Vladimir Putin should release detained Americans, singling out journalist Evan Gershkovich and ex-Marine Paul Whelan, and accused the Russian leader of treating “human beings as bargaining chips.”

Linda Thomas-Greenfield took the opportunity of Moscow’s top diplomat, Sergey Lavrov, presiding at a U.N. Security Council meeting to promote multilateralism and democracy to appeal for the release of Americans.

Arrests of Americans are increasingly common in Russia, with nine U.S. citizens known to be currently detained there as tensions between the two countries have escalated, especially since Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

“We will not rest until Paul and Evan come home, and Russia has ceased this barbaric practice of holding human pawns once and for all,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “And that’s a promise.”

Whelan, 53, a corporate security director from Michigan, was detained in Moscow in 2018 and …