Americans are increasingly being arrested in Russia as relations reach the depths of the Cold War.

U.S. citizens jailed in the country on various charges include a vacationing corporate security executive and a dual citizen visiting family in Tatarstan. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was convicted of espionage and sentenced to 16 years in prison on Friday in a trial that his employer and the U.S. government called a sham.

Washington accuses Moscow of using American citizens as bargaining chips, but Russia continues to insist they have all broken the law.

Although there have been many high-profile prisoner exchanges in the past, it is unclear whether more will occur in the future, as well as the total number of prisoners in Russian custody.

EVAN GERSHKOVICH — The 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter who was sentenced Friday was arrested in March 2023 while on a reporting trip to the city of Yekaterinburg. Russia alleges that Gershkovich “collected classified information” for the CIA about a facility that makes and repairs military equipment. It has provided no evidence to support the allegations. Gershkovich, his employer and the U.S. government deny the allegations.

PAUL WHELAN — The 54-year-old corporate security executive from Michigan was arrested in Moscow in 2018 while attending a friend’s wedding and convicted of espionage two years later. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison. He maintains his innocence and says the charges were trumped up.

TRAVIS LEAKE — The musician was convicted on drug charges Thursday and sentenced to 13 years in prison. An Instagram page describes him as the lead singer of the band Lovi Noch (Seize the Night). Court officials have said he is a former paratrooper.

MARC FOGEL — The teacher was sentenced to 14 years in prison, also for drug charges. The Interfax news agency reported that Fogel taught at the Anglo-American School in Moscow and worked at the U.S. Embassy. Interfax cited court officials as saying that Fogel had pleaded guilty.

GORDON BLACK — The 34-year-old sergeant stationed at Fort Cavazos, Texas, was convicted in June in Vladivostok of theft and making threats against his girlfriend, and was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison. He had flown to Russia from his U.S. military post in South Korea without permission and was arrested in May after she accused him of theft, U.S. and Russian authorities said.

ROBERT WOODLAND — Woodland, a dual citizen, was convicted of drug trafficking earlier this month and sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison. Russian media reported that his name matches that of a U.S. citizen interviewed in 2020 who said he was born in the Perm region in 1991 and adopted by an American couple at age 2. He said he traveled to Russia to find his mother and eventually met her on a TV show.

ALSU KURMASHEVA — Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian citizen, was arrested in 2023 in her hometown of Kazan. The Prague-based editor of the U.S. government-funded Tatar-Bashkir service Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was visiting her ailing mother. She faces multiple charges, including failing to self-declare as a “foreign agent” and spreading false information about the Russian military. The Committee to Protect Journalists called the charges “false.”

KSENIA KHAVANA — Khavana, 33, was arrested in February in Yekaterinburg on treason charges, accused of raising money for the Ukrainian military. Independent Russian news outlet Mediazona identified her by her maiden name Karelina and said she was a U.S. citizen after marrying an American. She returned to Russia from Los Angeles to visit family. Rights group The First Department said the charges stem from a $51 donation to a U.S. charity that helps Ukraine.

DAVID BARNES — Barnes, a Texas engineer, was arrested while visiting his sons in Russia, where their mother had taken them. His supporters say the woman made unsubstantiated claims of sexual abuse that had been debunked by investigators in Texas, but he was convicted in Russia anyway and sentenced to 21 years in prison.

ROBERT GILMAN — Gilman, who was identified in the media as a former U.S. Marine, was arrested in 2022 for allegedly assaulting a police officer, convicted and sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison. The sentence was reduced to 3 1/2 years on appeal. This year, Gilman faces new charges of disrupting the work of a correctional facility and assaulting an investigator. He has reportedly pleaded guilty.

EUGENE SPECTOR — Spector, a Russian-born U.S. citizen who served time on a bribery conviction, faced new espionage charges in 2023, though details of the allegations are unclear. Spector, a former executive at a medical device company in Russia, was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison in 2022 for allegedly facilitating bribes to an aide to former Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich.

Gershkovich and Whelan have received the most attention, with the State Department labeling both as wrongfully held. The designation is applied only to a small subset of Americans held by foreign countries.

These cases are referred to a special envoy of the State Department responsible for hostage affairs, who attempts to negotiate their release.

The U.S. successfully negotiated trades in 2022 for WNBA star Brittney Griner and Navy veteran Trevor Reed — both deemed wrongfully detained. Moscow received arms dealer Viktor Bout, serving a 25-year prison sentence, and pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, serving 20 years for cocaine trafficking.

It is unclear whether negotiations are underway for all American citizens held in Russia.

In December, the State Department reported that it had made a significant offer to Gershkovich and Whelan, but that Russia had rejected the offer.

Officials did not provide details. Russian President Vladimir Putin, asked about Gershkovich’s release, pointed to a man jailed by an American ally for “liquidating a bandit” who allegedly killed Russian soldiers in Chechnya.

This apparently referred to Vadim Krasikov, who in 2021 served a life sentence in Germany for the murder of Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili, a Georgian citizen of Chechen descent.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that the “special services” of Washington and Moscow are discussing an exchange. Russian officials have always said that no exchange can take place before a verdict.

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Tucker reported from Washington.