Russia detains WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich on espionage charges | Russia-Ukraine war News

The Wall Street Journal reporter was arrested in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg while allegedly trying to obtain classified information.

Russian authorities have detained an American reporter for the Wall Street Journal on espionage charges, Russia’s top security agency has said.

The Federal Security Service (FSB), the top KGB successor agency, said on Thursday that Evan Gershkovich was arrested in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg while allegedly trying to obtain classified information.

The security service alleged that Gershkovich “was collecting classified information about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex that constitutes a state secret”.

According to local media, he was covering the war in Ukraine and the Wagner mercenary group.

The FSB did not say when the arrest took place. Gershkovich could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of espionage.

He is the first reporter for an American news outlet to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War and his arrest comes amid bitter global tensions over the fighting in Ukraine.

Gershkovich, who was properly accredited as a journalist, covers Russia and Ukraine as a correspondent in the Wall Street Journal’s Moscow bureau.

His last report, published this week, focused on the Russian economy’s slowdown amid Western sanctions.

Before joining The Wall Street Journal, 31-year-old Gershkovich worked for AFP in Moscow. He was previously a reporter for The Moscow Times.

Gershkovich speaks Russian. His parents live in the United States but are originally from the Soviet Union.