The Federal Security Service (FSB, formerly KGB) formally accused American journalist Evan Gershkovich of espionage on Friday, correspondent of The Wall Street Journal arrested at the end of March.
“The FSB investigation brought against Gershkovich the accusation of espionage for the benefit of his country. He categorically denies all accusations and declared that he was engaged in journalistic activities in Russia,” a source from the security services told the TASS agency.
The reporter’s lawyers have appealed his detention, while dozens of independent Russian journalists wrote a letter demanding his release and calling the charge of espionage gratuitous under article 276 of the penal code, charge that carries up to 20 years in prison.
At the moment, as the process is secret, the details of the case are unknown, although the detainee is in good health and encouragement, as reported by the Russian activists who visited him in pretrial detention.
The only thing that is known is that, once he reported his arrest, the FSB assured that Gershkovich “collected, on behalf of the US side, secret information about the activities of one of the companies of the Russian military-industrial complex.
“During the attempt to receive secret information the American was arrested in Yekaterinburg“, the capital of the Urals, the FSB said.
According to the digital newspaper Meduza, Gershkovich was in Yekaterinburg gathering information on the attitude of the Russians towards the group of Wagner mercenaries.
Both the White House and The Wall Street Journal he denied the accusations of the Russian security forces against their correspondent and have demanded his immediate release.
Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Kremlin have called on Washington not to politicize the case and let Justice take its course.
“As far as we know, they caught him red-handed,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said, adding that this arrest “is a prerogative of the FSB, which thus combats spies.”
For her part, the spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zajárova, wrote on her Telegram channel that “what the employee of the The Wall Street Journal It has nothing to do with journalism.”
“Unfortunately, it is not the first time that the status of ‘foreign journalist’, the visa as a journalist and the accreditation are used by foreigners in our country to cover up activities that They are not journalistic said.
According to Zajárova, Gershkovich “is not the first known Westerner caught with hands in the dough.”
The approval of separate laws against dissemination of false information, such as the accusations of war crimes, and the discrediting of the Russian Army in Ukraine, including criticizing volunteers and mercenaries, has made the work of foreign journalists in this country extremely difficult since the beginning of the Russian military campaign in Ukraine.
The last arrest of an American journalist for espionage took place in 1986, in the midst of Perestroika, and involved Nicholas Daniloff, who was exchanged for a Russian prisoner. three weeks later.
Recently, Moscow and Washington have carried out several exchanges such as the one that took place in December between the Russian arms dealer Victor But and the basketball player Brittney Griner.