Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkowitz has been charged with espionage. This is reported by TASS and Interfax, citing law enforcement sources.
“The FSB investigation charged Gershkovich with espionage in the interests of his country. He categorically denied all accusations and stated that he was engaged in journalistic activities in Russia, ”said the TASS interlocutor. Gershkovich's lawyer Daniil Berman, in a conversation with RTVI, said that he did not comment on the journalist's case.
Gershkovich was detained in Yekaterinburg on March 29 in a case of espionage (Article 276 of the Criminal Code). He was taken to Moscow, the court sent him to the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center. The journalist's arrest will be appealed on April 18.
Let Evan go! Letter from journalists in support of the Wall Street Journal correspondent arrested by the FSB
According to the FSB, the Wall Street Journal correspondent “on the instructions of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of an enterprise of the Russian military-industrial complex.”
The Ural journalists who met with Gershkovich said that he was preparing a text about the work of the Wagner PMC. Meduza reported that shortly before the arrest, the reporter visited Nizhny Tagil, where Uralvagonzavod, which manufactures tanks, is located. According to the reporter's colleagues, he noticed that he was being followed and assumed that his phone was tapped.