Russia keeps Americans in jails as relations between countries plummet [Video]

A journalist on a reporting trip in a Ural Mountains city. A corporate security executive traveling to Moscow for a wedding. A dual national returning to her hometown in Tatarstan to visit her family.

All of them are U.S. citizens, and all are behind bars in Russia on charges of varying severity.

Arrests of Americans in Russia have become increasingly common as relations between Moscow and Washington sink to Cold War lows. Washington accuses Moscow of targeting its citizens and using them as political bargaining chips, but Russian officials insist they all broke the law.

SIX RUSSIAN JOURNALISTS HAVE BEEN DETAINED BY AUTHORITIES. THEY INCLUDE ONE WHO COVERED NAVALNY

Some have been exchanged for Russians held in the U.S., while for others, the prospects of being released in a swap are less clear.

“It seems that since Moscow itself has cut off most of the communication channels and does not …