WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden on Tuesday called Russia's detention of an American journalist "totally illegal'', as the U.S. State Department has elevated his case by formally categorizing him as wrongfully detained.

Biden, who made the brief comments to reporters before departing on a trip to Ireland, spoke with the parents of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich during his flight.

"We’re making it real clear that it’s totally illegal what’s happening, and we declared it so," Biden told reporters. "It changes the dynamic."

U.S. Embassy officials have not yet been given access to Gershkovich.

"It's not for lack of trying," said White House spokesman John Kirby.

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Russia's Federal Security Service formally charged Gershkovich with espionage last week.

The arrest has been widely condemned by news organizations around the world and has become a symbol of Russia jailing journalists and critics without case.

In a joint statement last week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Russia has a "long and disturbing history of unjustly detaining U.S. citizens in a judicial system that provides neither transparency nor justice.”

The Russian agency alleged that the American journalist “was acting on the U.S. orders to collect information about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military industrial complex that constitutes a state secret."

The Wall Street Journal “vehemently” denied all allegations against Gershkovich and called for his immediate release.

His arrest marks the first time an American journalist has been arrested on espionage charges since the Cold War.

Contributing: Sarah Elbeshbishi

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden condemns detention of wSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich in Russia