The United States has a standing proposal to secure Paul Whelan's freedom from Russia, though there isn't a "clear path forward" for Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

Both Whelan and Gershkovich were accused by Russian authorities of spying on behalf of the United States, which both men and the U.S. government deny. The Biden administration views both of them as "wrongfully detained" in Russia, which is a legal status determined by the State Department through criteria that determine who handles the case and what resources can go to them.

PAUL WHELAN'S SISTER CONFRONTS RUSSIA'S LAVROV AT UN SECURITY COUNCIL

Whelan was arrested in late 2018 while in Russia for a wedding and was sentenced to 16 years in prison in June 2020, while Gershkovich was arrested in late March of this year.

“We are actively, energetically trying to get [Gershkovich] released as well as Paul Whelan. That has never stopped. There’s a proposal on the table for Paul. We will urge the Russians to accept that proposal so we can get him out of there," National Security Council coordinator John Kirby said on CNN Thursday morning.

He also said they're having "initial conversations" regarding Gershkovich. Russian officials have said they will only discuss swaps after the conclusion of a trial, which could play a part in the limited negotiations.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the department is "intensely engaged" in trying to secure Gershkovich's freedom, though he lamented there's not a clear path forward.

"I spoke to Foreign Minister Lavrov shortly after Evan was detained," he said during a Washington Post event on Wednesday. "I haven’t spoken to him since. I made clear the imperative of releasing Evan. I made clear the imperative of getting consular access. We did get consular access after that. We have a channel that President Biden and President Putin established some time ago to try to work on these cases, so we’re engaged. I wish I could say that in this moment, there was a clear way forward. I — we don’t have that in this moment, but it’s something that we’re working every single day."

The U.S. has not had the consular access to Gershkovich that they had hoped.

The Biden administration agreed to two prisoner swaps last year; one that returned Trevor Reed last April and another that returned Brittney Griner this past December, but Whelan was excluded from both deals. U.S. officials said after Griner's release that the Kremlin did not make Whelan available in any possible swap and that they view his detention differently given the espionage charge, despite their spurious nature, which all but assuredly will hamper their efforts to get Gershkovich back as well.

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Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth Whelan, a fierce advocate fighting for her brother’s release, called for his freedom at the United Nations in late April alongside U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the lead U.S. envoy at the United Nations, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in attendance.

“This Russian playbook is so lazy that even Evan has the same investigator, a man who harassed and interrogated my brother until Paul’s sham trial in June of 2020, when Paul was given a horrific sentence of 16 years for a crime he did not commit,” she told reporters. “Now Paul is being held in labor camp IK-17 in the remote province of Mordovia, held as a pawn and victim of Russia’s descent into lawlessness.”