As of: 04/07/2023 7:27 p.m
He was arrested in Russia just over a week ago, and now US journalist Gershkovich has been charged. The accusation is espionage. The 31-year-old rejects this.
US journalist Evan Gershkovich jailed in Russia has been charged with espionage. This was reported by the Russian state news agency Tass.
Gershkovich “categorically” rejected the accusations of the Russian domestic secret service FSB and emphasized that he was only in Russia as a journalist. The 31-year-old’s case is classified as “top secret”. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
According to the FSB, the reporter for the Wall Street Journal in Moscow was arrested in Yekaterinburg last week “when he was trying to obtain classified information”. The city is 1800 kilometers east of Moscow.
“Ridiculous” allegations
Gershkovich’s newspaper and himself reject the allegations made once morest him. US President Joe Biden called the allegations “ridiculous” on Friday and called for Gershkovich’s release. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also called for Gershkovich’s immediate release in a telephone conversation with his Russian colleague Sergey Lavrov.
Washington has long accused Moscow of arbitrarily detaining US citizens in order to exchange them for imprisoned Russians.