American journalist Evan Gershkovich from The Wall Street Journal was detained Thursday by Russian security forces in Yekaterinburg. The Federal Security Service has accused the reporter of being a spy for the Biden Administration.
According to the FSB, Gershkovich "was acting on instructions from the American side to collect information about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex that constitutes a state secret."
"What the employee of The Wall Street Journal was doing in Ekaterinburg has nothing to do with journalism," said Maria Zakharova. The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said: "Unfortunately, this is not the first time that the status of 'foreign correspondent,' journalist visa and accreditation are being used by foreigners in our country to cover up activities that are not journalistic."
WSJ calls for his immediate release
The WSJ issued a statement denying the Russian accusations and calling for the release of its journalist, who is part of the WSJ bureau in Moscow:
The Wall Street Journal vehemently denies the FSB allegations and calls for the immediate release of our reliable and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich. We sympathize with Evan and his family.
