Russia’s main security service (FSB) said on Thursday that it arrested a journalist from the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal on suspicion of spying for the United States.
Russia’s FSB claimed on Thursday that Moscow-based correspondent Evan Gershkovich was trying to obtain state-secret information. The Wall Street Journal categorically denies those allegations.
The Russian agency accused Gershkovich of collecting information on military factories. The FSB did not name the factory but said he was detained in the city of Urals for trying to obtain confidential information.
It is the first time since the Cold War that an American journalist has been detained by Russia on spying charges.
Gershkovich was taken into custody a week after U.S. authorities arrested Sergei Vladimirovich Cherkasov and charged him in federal court with being a U.S. spy.
Gershkovich was the Wall Street Journal’s Moscow bureau correspondent and was officially granted a Russian press pass, the Journal said. Gershkovich has been working in Russia since 2017.
Russia’s security service, the FSB, issued a statement saying it had stopped Gershkovich’s “illegal activities” on suspicion of “spying in the interest of the US government”.
The Journal denied those claims and called for Gershkovich’s immediate release.
“We stand in solidarity with Evan and his family,” the Journal said in a statement.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that President Biden was informed and briefed about Gershkovich. She repeated an earlier State Department warning against Americans traveling to Russia.
“We are very clear that Americans should not go to Russia. It’s not safe,” said Jean-Pierre.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the US is seeking immediate consular access to Gershkovich and said that it can provide appropriate assistance.
“In the strongest possible terms, we condemn the Kremlin’s continued efforts to intimidate, suppress and punish journalists and civil society voices,” Blinken said.
White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre said in a statement that the US State Department is in direct contact with the Russian government regarding the arrest.
“The targeting of American citizens by the Russian government is unacceptable. We condemn the detention of Mr. Gershkovich in the strongest terms,” Jean-Pierre said.
Other foreign journalists covering Russia have supported Gershkovich, saying he is a professional journalist but not a spy.
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