Evan Gershkovica reporter from the Wall Street Journal, is provisionally detained for two months in Russia. This after being accused espionage. According to the Russian judiciary, the US authorities have instructed the journalist to collect information about the activities of a factory of the military-industrial complex. Gershkovich was arrested when he tried “get classified information‘ they detailed.

The WSJ correspondent is the first American journalist to be arrested on charges of espionage in Russia since the Cold War. Everything is in the middle of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The Investigative Department of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) has opened a criminal case under Article 276 (on espionage) of the Russian Penal Code.

For its part, the Wall Street Journal Said to be “deeply concerned about safety” de Gershkovich, denied the allegations against his reporter and called for his “immediate release”.

Russia accuses Wall Street Journal correspondent of espionage and orders two months in jail

If convicted of espionage, Gershkovich could face up to 20 years in prison.

“All I can say is that, as far as we know, he was caught in the act. Naturally, we follow foreign media, and we do it daily, so we know their messagesKremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov said.

His latest report from Moscow, published this week, focused on the slowdown in the Russian economy due to Western sanctions imposed after Russian troops invaded Ukraine last year.

This is reported by the local media Vecherniye VedomostiPlainclothes security officers dragged a person out of a restaurant in Yekaterinburg on Wednesday, a sweater over his face, and kicked off in a minivan. Official sources have not confirmed that it was Gershkovich. ” As far as we know, he was caught caught in the actbut I don’t know the details,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a news conference.

Before joining the Wall Street Journal in 2022, the reporter worked for AFP in Moscow and before that for the English-language site. The Moscow Times. Gershkovich speaks perfect Russian; his family emigrated from Russia to the United States when he was a child.