New Delhi: A US journalist working for The Wall Street Journal has been detained in Russia by the Federal Security Service (FSB) on suspicion of spying for Washington.
This move marks the most severe action taken against a foreign journalist since Russia's military intervention in Ukraine. The FSB released a statement claiming that Evan Gershkovich, a US national, had been gathering information deemed classified as a state secret regarding a military factory, but provided no evidence to support the accusation.
“It has been established that E. Gershkovich, acting on an assignment from the American side, was gathering information classified as a state secret about the activity of one of the enterprises of Russia’s military-industrial complex,” the FSB said in its statement.
The FSB did not disclose the name or location of the factory, but confirmed that Gershkovich had been apprehended in Yekaterinburg, a city in the Urals, as he was attempting to obtain secret information. The Wall Street Journal, in a statement on its website, said it "vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich". The Journal said it stands in solidarity with Evan and his family.
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Foreign journalists covering Russia voiced their support for Gershkovich, stating that he was a professional journalist and not a spy. Andrei Soldatov, an expert in Russia's security agencies, criticized Gershkovich's detention as a direct attack on foreign correspondents and a sign that the FSB is operating without restraint. Since Russia's military intervention in Ukraine, the country has tightened its censorship laws.
