US journalist Evan Gershkovich, arrested in Russia last week, was formally charged with “espionage” on Friday, a charge he and his employer, the Wall Street Journalforcefully reject.
• Read also: Russia: arrested American journalist appeals his detention
The Russian authorities “charged” this correspondent of the Wall Street Journalwho also worked for AFP in the past, “spying on behalf of his country”, reported the state agency TASS, citing an anonymous source within the security forces.
“He categorically denied all charges and said his activities in Russia were journalistic,” TASS continued.
The Wall Street Journal quickly denounced “totally false” charges.
“As we have said from the start, these charges are totally false and unjustified, and we continue to demand Evan’s immediate release,” hammered the US business daily in a statement.
“Unnecessary” pressures
According to the Russian news agency Interfax, Mr. Gershkovich is more specifically prosecuted on the basis of article 276 of the Russian criminal code, a charge punishable by 20 years in prison.
This indictment paves the way for a trial, the date of which has not yet been announced.
The reporter was arrested last week by Russian security services while reporting in Yekaterinburg, in the Urals. The authorities accused him in particular of gathering information on the Russian defense industry.
As the Wall Street Journalthe American authorities, Joe Biden and his Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the lead, called on the Kremlin to release the journalist.
But Moscow assured the new American ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, on Thursday that it was “useless” to exert pressure in this file.
“The hype around this case (…) in order to put pressure on the Russian authorities and on the court which will have to decide the fate of Evan Gershkovich is useless and senseless”, indicated the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release.
The Wall Street Journal had in particular, last week, estimated in an editorial that “expelling the Russian ambassador from the United States, as well as the Russian journalists working there, would be the least of things”.
“Arbitrary”
The warnings from Moscow did not prevent Democrat Chuck Schumer and Republican Mitch McConnell, the two highest officials in the US Senate, from calling in turn on Friday for the journalist’s release, in a rare joint statement.
These two tenors of Congress denounced “arbitrary detention” and demanded the “immediate release of this independent journalist, respected throughout the world”.
The arrest of this American citizen of Russian origin, aged 31, comes in a context of increased repression in Russia once morest the press since the offensive once morest Ukraine, which has greatly strained relations between Moscow and Washington.
It also follows an exchange in December between American basketball star Brittney Griner, who was in custody in Russia, and Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, a prisoner in the United States.
Washington has repeatedly accused Moscow of arbitrarily arresting Americans to use as bargaining chip and recover Russians detained in the United States.
