Russia accuses American journalist Evan Gershkovich of espionage

Evan Gershkovich was arrested by FSB agents at the end of March. Photo: The Wall Street Journal/AP

Evan Gershkovich, an American reporter for The Wall Street Journal has been formally charged with spying in Russia.

Agents from the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) have arrested a respected Moscow correspondent who was working as a reporter work in Yekaterinburg, not far from the Urals. mountains, end of March.

“Gershkovich has been charged,” an unnamed source was quoted by the Russian news agency Interfax.

Mr. Gershkovich is currently being held in the notorious Lefortovo Prison in Moscow. US President Joe Biden demanded his release, and hundreds of newspapers around the world signed a petition under the slogan: «Journalism is not a crime.» » /> Evan Gershkovich was accompanied last week by employees of the Lefortovo Court in Moscow Photo: Alexander Zemlyanichenko/AP spirits, despite the fact that they are kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day.

He became the first American journalist to be arrested and charged with espionage in Russia since 1986.

Analysts have likened his arrest to a state-run «hostage-taking» and said the Kremlin is using him as a pawn in a bargaining. with the US in a future prisoner exchange.

In December, American basketball superstar Britney Griner was released from a Russian prison in exchange for Viktor Bout, a notorious Russian arms dealer. In February, she was arrested while transporting liquid marijuana through an airport near Moscow and sentenced to nine years in prison.

The Russian prosecutor's office stated that Mr. Gershkovich «gathered information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex ”.

Media activists have said they are concerned that the Kremlin is preparing for a show trial later this year. They linked the arrest of a Russian couple working at Russia's largest tank factory in the Ural Mountains to Gershkovich's trial. He was writing an article for The Wall Street Journal about the factory.

“The circumstances of these latest arrests suggest that the FSB is building a treason investigation that overlaps at least partially with the prosecution of Evan Gershkovich. ”, wrote the Russian opposition news site Meduza.

FSB officers arrested Danil and Viktoria Mukhametov in late March, although the Russian security services only released information about the arrests on Tuesday.