As of: 04/07/2023 7:27 PM
He was detained in Russia just over a week ago, and now the American journalist Gershkovich has been charged. accusation of espionage. The 31-year-old refuses.
American journalist Ivan Gershkovich, imprisoned in Russia, has been accused of espionage. This was reported by the Russian state news agency TASS.
Gershkovitch “categorically” rejected the FSB’s accusations and maintained that he was only in Russia as a journalist. The case of the 31-year-old is classified as “top secret”. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
According to the FSB, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in Moscow was arrested last week in Yekaterinburg “when he was trying to obtain classified information.” The city is located 1,800 kilometers east of Moscow.
‘ridiculous’ allegations
Gershkovitch’s newspaper and Gershkovitch’s own newspaper rejected the allegations against him. US President Joe Biden called the allegations “ridiculous” on Friday and called for Gershkovitch’s release. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also called for Gershkovitch’s immediate release in a phone conversation with fellow Russian Sergei Lavrov.
Washington has long accused Moscow of arbitrarily detaining US citizens in order to exchange them for Russian prisoners.