Wall Street Journal reporter arrested in Russia on suspicion of espionage
(CNN) — A Wall Street Journal reporter has been arrested in Russia on suspicion of espionage, the first time an American journalist has been detained on accusations by Moscow of spying since the Cold War.
Russia’s main security service, the FSB, claimed Thursday that Evan Gershkovich, a correspondent based in Moscow, had been trying to obtain state secrets. The Wall Street Journal has categorically rejected those allegations.
The US newspaper “vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter,” it said in a statement. “We stand in solidarity with Evan and his family.”
A Russian district court in Moscow said Thursday that Gershkovich would be detained until May 29.
Gershkovich’s arrest comes amid escalating tensions between the United States and Russia over President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
The FSB said Gershkovich was detained in Yekaterinburg, on the eastern side of the Ural Mountains, and claimed he was “trying to obtain secret information” relating to “the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.”
The FSB said the reporter, who is accredited by Russia’s foreign ministry, was “acting on the instructions of the American side” and “trying to obtain secret information.”
The US State Department began tracking Gershkovich’s arrest Wednesday afternoon before the news broke publicly, according to two US officials.
Gershkovich covers Russia, Ukraine and the former Soviet Union, according to his biography on the Wall Street Journal’s website. He previously worked for news agency Agence France-Presse, the Moscow Times and the New York Times.
Detained Americans
Detentions of other Americans have led to lengthy and difficult negations between Washington and Moscow.
US basketball star Brittney Griner, detained in February 2022 on what the US described as trumped-up drug smuggling charges, was released in December in a prisoner swap for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
However, the US did not secure the release of another American, Paul Whelan. Whelan, a former Marine who is a US, Irish, British and Canadian citizen, was detained at a Moscow hotel in December 2018 by Russian authorities who alleged he was involved in an intelligence operation. He was sentenced to 16 years in a Russian prison in 2020 after a trial US officials called unfair.
The US has continued campaigning for his release. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier this month that a “serious proposal” had been put to Kremlin officials.
Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, told TASS on Thursday that it was premature to raise the possibility of a prisoner exchange for Gershkovich.
His detention also marks a significant stepping up of Russia’s campaign against foreign media.
Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin made it a crime to disseminate “fake” information about the Russian army and the invasion of Ukraine. That prompted global news organizations including CNN to temporarily suspend broadcasting from the country.
Gershkovich is the first journalist to be accused of spying by Russia since 1986, when reporter Nick Daniloff was detained on a similar charge while working for the U.S. News and World Report newspaper and magazine. He spent weeks in a Russian prison before the Reagan administration negotiated his release