Analysis-Russia's arrest of reporter deepens Biden's detainee challenge

FILE PHOTO: Reporter for U.S. newspaper The Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich, detained on suspicion of espionage, leaves a court building in Moscow, Russia March 30, 2023. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Even before Russia detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on Wednesday, the Biden administration was at an impasse over another American held by Moscow: Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine serving a 16-year sentence in a Russian prison.

With relations between the world's two largest nuclear powers strained to the breaking point by Russia's war in Ukraine, officials in Washington have for months been unable to reach a deal to free Whelan, convicted by a Russian court of espionage in 2020.