Evan Gershkovich
An experienced US journalist, Evan Gershkovich was detained by Russia on spying charges. He was working in the city of Yekaterinburg at the time of his detention. According to Kremlin, he was caught “red-handed” while spying in Russia. However, the White House, America has strongly denied the allegations made against the reporter.
The US is “deeply concerned” by the arrest
Gershkovich is a popular foreign correspondent in Moscow. He is an excellent reporter and a highly principled journalist. US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken supported The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) by saying that he was “deeply concerned” by the arrest. US officials even tried to have certain contact with the detained reporter but they did not get any reply.
The reporter’s link with the editor broke about 1600 kilometers east of Moscow, while he was in Yekaterinburg. According to US officials, Evan was dropped by his driver at a restaurant. Two hours later the drop, his phone was turned off.
The newspaper even tried to find Evan at Federal Security Board (FSB) headquarters, through a lawyer but the Russians told the lawyer that they had no information regarding the same.
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Russia “acting on US instructions”
The security agency of Russia, the FSB, declared that it had stopped “illegal activities.” It continued by saying that the journalist had been detained “acting on US instructions” and that Evan had “gathered information deemed to be a state secret about the operations of a Russian defence enterprise.”
According to a source who spoke to Russian media, the investigation section had opened a criminal espionage case. On Friday, FSB agents brought him to Lefortovo District Court in Moscow, where he was officially taken into custody and told to stay there until May 29.
According to Russian media, the court had already been emptied of personnel and guests, and Mr. Gershkovich’s advocate claimed he had not been permitted entry. In Russia, espionage brings a 20-year maximum sentence for imprisonment. The journalist reportedly denied the accusation, according to Tass news service.
Evan’s writing on Russia
Evan Gershkovich wrote about Russia’s faltering economy and how the Kremlin was struggling to deal with “ballooning military expenditures” while keeping social spending in his most recent WSJ article, which was published this week.
The Wall Street Journal issued a statement in which it expressed its support for the journalist and his family, saying that it “vehemently rejects the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich.”
