A court in Moscow has issued an arrest warrant against the arrested correspondent of the US newspaper “Wall Street Journal” for alleged espionage. The Russian state agency TASS reported today. The journalist faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
The Russian secret service FSB had previously said it had stopped the “illegal activities of US citizen Evan Gershkovich”. The reporter, born in 1991, is said to be suspected of “espionage in the interests of the American government”.
The US reporter allegedly collected information about the military-industrial complex in Russia that constituted a state secret. “The foreigner was detained in Yekaterinburg trying to obtain classified information,” the FSB said. Media had previously reported that the reporter had disappeared. He tried to write a report on the attitude of the population to the recruitment attempts by Wagner’s private army.
Kremlin: “Caught in the act”
The Kremlin meanwhile considers the allegations of espionage to be proven. “As far as we know, he was caught in the act,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on state radio. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova had previously confirmed the FSB’s allegation of espionage against Gershkovich and generally accused Western correspondents of spying against Russia under the guise of journalism.
“Deeply Concerned”
The Wall Street Journal said it was “deeply concerned about the safety” of its reporter arrested in Russia in a brief statement released today.
Americans are repeatedly suspected of espionage in Russia. This is likely to be the first case of a journalist officially accredited to the Russian Foreign Ministry. Russia recently tightened its stance against Western journalists in the course of the Ukraine war. The Russian opposition spoke of a “hostage-taking”.
“Putin is ready to use any method to put pressure on the West,” said the team of jailed Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny. In the past, Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin had time and again freed Russian criminals imprisoned in the United States through exchanges with Americans convicted in Moscow.
