FSB asks to arrest detained WSJ correspondent in espionage case

FSB investigators asked the court to arrest the American journalist of The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Evan Gershkovich in a case of espionage. About it informs TASS with reference to the Lefortovo Court of Moscow, where the department’s petition was received.

“The court received a petition from the investigative department of the FSB to elect a preventive measure in the form of detention for The Wall Street Journal correspondent Gershkovich,” the court said.

Earlier today, March 30, WSJ correspondent Evan Gershkovich was detained in Yekaterinburg on suspicion of espionage. The FSB clarified that a criminal case had been opened against the journalist under Art. 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (espionage). According to the intelligence service, the journalist collected secret information “about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.”

The American newspaper denied the FSB’s allegations and demanded that Gershkovich be released immediately. The WSJ specified that the journalist works in the Moscow bureau of The Wall Street Journal and covers events in Russia.

Commenting on the incident, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov declaredthat Gershkovich was caught red-handed, we are not talking about suspicions. The Kremlin spokesman did not specify that this means the detention of the journalist red-handed, since he does not know the details.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova notedthat the activities of the WSJ employee in Yekaterinburg have nothing to do with journalism. According to her, this is not the first time that the status of a “foreign correspondent”, a journalistic visa and accreditation are used by foreigners in Russia to cover up activities that are not journalism.