Analysis Russias arrest of reporter deepens Bidens detainee challenge

WASHINGTON, April 3 (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. Whelan was left out of a December prisoner exchange that saw the United…