"The Russian Federal Security Service has thwarted the illegal activities of Evan Gershkovich, a US citizen born in 1991, a correspondent of the Moscow bureau of the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal <…>, who is suspected of spying in the interests of the American government," the FSB reported.
"It was established that Evan Gershkovich, acting at the request of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex. The foreigner was detained in Yekaterinburg while attempting to obtain classified information," the FSB pointed out.
Investigators have initiated a criminal case against the US citizen under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code (Espionage).[TASS]
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The Wall Street Journal expressed concern over the detention of its reporter Evan Gershkovich in Yekaterinburg on charges of espionage.
ReplyDelete"The Wall Street Journal is deeply concerned for the safety of Mr. Gershkovich," the newspaper said in a statement published on its website on Thursday.
According to the WSJ, Gershkovich covers Russia and is assigned to the newspaper’s Moscow bureau.
The Wall Street Journal said in a statement emailed to Reuters on Thursday that it “vehemently denies” allegations of espionage against Evan Gershkovich, a Russia-based correspondent who was arrested by Russia’s FSB security service on suspicion of spying in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.
ReplyDelete“The Wall Street Journal vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich. We stand in solidarity with Evan and his family,” the newspaper said.
WSJ Correspondent Was Not Doing Journalistic Work In Yekaterinburg...
ReplyDeleteEvan Gershkovich, a correspondent with the Wall Street Journal Moscow bureau who was detained in Yekaterinburg on a suspicion of espionage on Thursday, was not engaged in any journalistic work there, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.
"What an employee of the US paper The Wall Street Journal was doing in Yekaterinburg has nothing to do with journalism. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that the status of a "foreign correspondent", a journalistic visa and accreditation are used by foreigners in our country to cover up activities that are not related to journalism. He is not the first well-known Westerner who got caught in action," Zakharova wrote on her Telegram channel.