Vladimir Putin arrested a journalist from The Wall Street Journal in Russia after accusing him of espionage

They arrested an American journalist from The Wall Street Journal in Russia whom they accused of being in that country to carry out espionage. The information was confirmed by Federal Security Service (FBS), heir to the KGB intelligence agency. The North American media released a statement in which he said he was “deeply concerned” about the safety of his employee.

“The FSB thwarted the illegal activities of the American citizen Evan Gershkovich (…) correspondent for the Moscow office of The Wall Street Journal”, detailed the Russian organization. The Russian government assured that the chronicler worked with a press accreditation issued by the Russian Foreign Ministry.

A journalist from an American media outlet was arrested in Russia

The official Putin government indictment alleges that Gershkovich is “suspected of spying for the US government” and that it was gathering information “about a company of the Russian military-industrial complex.” This is the first case of a US media reporter arrested on espionage charges in that country since the Cold War.

A journalist from an American media outlet was arrested in Russia

For its part, Russian diplomacy stressed that the journalist was “caught red-handed.” “What the collaborator of the American publication The Wall Street Journal was doing in Yekaterinburg had no relation to journalism,” stressed the spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy Maria Zakharova.

Evan Gershkovich is a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and was accused of espionage in Russia

The Wall Street Journal employee was detained in Yekaterinburg, 1,800 kilometers east of Moscow in the Urals, while allegedly trying to obtain classified information.

What is the penalty they could give the journalist

If Gershkovich is convicted of espionage, he could be required to serve up to 20 years in prison according to article 276 of the Russian penal code.

How to live in Russia and oppose Putin and the war

The journalist had published this week in the newspaper for which he works, a story about the slowdown of the Russian economy under Western sanctions imposed after Russian troops entered Ukraine last year.

Before reaching the middle Americans, the journalist had been a correspondent for the French agency AFP in Moscow and, previously, from the English-language newspaper Moscow Times. Of Russian origin, the 31-year-old journalist speaks the language perfectly and his parents live in the United States.

RB CP

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