US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy visited Paul Whelan on Thursday— her first visit to the detained American since taking up the post in Moscow earlier this year.
"His release remains an absolute priority," the US Embassy in Moscow said on Twitter.
Whelan is serving out his prison sentence at a prison camp in Mordovia, an eight-hour drive from Moscow.
Background on Whelan's case: The American citizen, who also holds Irish, British and Canadian citizenship, was detained in Russia in December 2018 and later sentenced to 16 years in prison on an espionage charge, which he strongly denies.
In an interview with CNN in December, Whelan described the prison camp as "better than most in Russia because it's mostly foreigners held here, but the conditions are extremely bad."
Although Thursday was Tracy's first in-person visit, she has spoken by phone with Whelan in the past. The US government was unable to secure Whelan's release last year when they brought home two other wrongfully detained Americans: Trevor Reed in April and Brittney Griner in December.
Other detained Americans: Whelan is one of two Americans still in Russia who has been designated as wrongfully detained. The other, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, was imprisoned more than a month ago.
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