According to local media, American journalist Evan Gershkovich has been formally accused of espionage in Russia. Mr. Gershkovich, an experienced Russia correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg last week. (WSJ).
According to media reports, he categorically denied the allegations against him. The newspaper has demanded that he be released immediately.
After his detention, the Kremlin stated that he had been “caught red-handed.”
Mr. Gershkovich, 31 years old, is well-known among foreign correspondents in Moscow, and BBC Russia Editor Steve Rosenberg describes him as an outstanding reporter and a journalist with a strong sense of ethics.
The White House issued a “strong condemnation” of his detention.
And on Friday, Senate Republican and Democratic leaders Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer condemned his detention in a rare joint statement.
They stated,
“Journalism is not a crime.” “We demand that the false charges against Mr. Gershkovich be dropped and he be released immediately.”
The WSJ issued a second statement in response to the charges:
“As we’ve said from the start, these charges are categorically false and unjustified, and we continue to call for Evan’s immediate release.”
US officials claim they have attempted to visit Mr. Gershkovich but have been unable to do so. However, the WSJ reported that its attorneys had access to him.
The Russian foreign ministry stated that the issue of consular access was being resolved, but added that the “fuss in the United States over this case, which was intended to exert pressure on the Russian authorities, was pointless and illogical.”
Wednesday afternoon, a WSJ correspondent lost contact with his editors while working in Yekaterinburg, approximately 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) east of Moscow.
According to US officials, Mr. Gershkovich’s driver left him off at a restaurant, and two hours later, his phone was disconnected. The newspaper could not locate him in the city.
The Russian FSB security agency asserted that it had stopped “illegal activities.” The journalist was detained while “acting on US instructions,” the statement continued, alleging that he had “collected state-secret information about the activities of a Russian defense enterprise.”
Last Friday, FSB agents transported him to a Lefortovo district court in Moscow, where he was formally detained and ordered to remain in custody until May 29.
In Russia, espionage entails a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.
Evan Gershkovich reported on Russia’s deteriorating economy and the Kremlin’s struggle to maintain social spending in his most recent article for the Wall Street Journal, which was published last week.
According to Reporters Without Borders, he traveled to Yekaterinburg to cover the Russian mercenary organization Wagner, which has participated in some of the fiercest combat in eastern Ukraine.
He has covered Russia for more than a year for the Wall Street Journal, having previously covered the country for the AFP news agency and the Moscow Times. He started his career in America.
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