This was ordered by the Russian judiciary on Thursday two-month pre-trial detention for American journalist Evan Gershkovich, from the Wall Street Journal, accused of “espionage”in a context of increasing repression since the beginning of the offensive in Ukraine.

“By decision of the Lefortovo Court of Moscow on March 30, 2023 on Gershkovich E. (…) a preventive measure of detention (…) until May 29, 2023 was chosen,” the court said in a statement. At the end of that period, his detention can be extended.

The Kremlin assured, without giving details, that Gershkovich had been discovered “caught in the act” and warned Washington not to retaliate against Russian media in the United States.

This has been indicated by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). “thwarted the illegal activities of US citizen Evan Gershkovich (…), correspondent for the Moscow office of the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal”, whom he accuses of “espionage for the US government.”

The journalist pleaded not guilty to the charges, according to the official Russian bureau BAG.

He Wall Street Journal Said to be Gershkovich is very concerned about safetydenied the allegations against his reporter and requested his “immediate release”.

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Before joining the wsj in 2022 the reporter worked for the AFP in Moscow and earlier, for the English site The Moscow Times. Gershkovich speaks perfect Russian; his family emigrated from Russia to the United States when he was a child.

The NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) declared itself “alarmed” by “what appears to be a retaliatory measure” and France expressed “concern” asking Moscow to respect press freedom. The crime of espionage is punishable in Russia by sentences of ten to twenty years in prison.according to Article 276 of the Penal Code.

“Hostate?”

Russian authorities confirmed that 31-year-old Gershkovich was working with him a press accreditation issued by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They added that he was detained for collecting information “about a company of the Russian military-industrial complex”.

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“The foreigner was arrested in Yekaterinburg when he tried to obtain classified informationthe FSB detailed, referring to a city in central Russia 1,800 kilometers east of Moscow. According to independent Russian political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya, the FBS could have caught the journalist “as a hostage” for a prisoner exchange.

For his part, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Riabkov said after questions about a possible exchange to be seen “how it evolves” this case.

“I wouldn’t put the question this way right now because, as you know, these exchanges that happened in the past were for people who were already serving their sentences, including US citizens with pretty serious charges,” Riabkov said. news agencies.

Intensification of repression

Several US citizens are currently in prison in Russia and both Washington and Moscow they have accused each other of carrying out politically motivated arrests. Among them is Paul Whelan, a 53-year-old ex-Marine who was arrested in 2018 and is serving a 16-year prison sentence for espionage.

There have been several high-level prisoner exchanges between the two countries over the past year. In December, Moscow released American basketball star Brittney Griner, who was detained for smuggling cannabis oil into the country, in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

The Russian press and journalists critical of the Kremlin are often prosecuted in Russia, something foreign journalists have generally been spared so far. At the same time, the conditions for issuing accreditations for foreign journalists, on which visas depend, have been tightened.

Foreign reporters are also sometimes followed by security services during their reporting, especially outside Moscow. In this context, many Western media have significantly reduced their presence in Russia since the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops in February 2022.