A Russian court on Monday ordered the pretrial detention “until December 5” of Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who was arrested last week, making her the second American reporter jailed in the country, Russian news agencies said.
The Sovetsky Court in Kazan, Tatarstan Region, said it had approved the request of investigators who arrested the journalist on Wednesday, accusing her of violations related to her entry in the register of “foreign agents.” was busy with “foreign agents”. the deliberate collection of information about military activities” that could harm “Russia’s security.”
Ms Kurmasheva, who works for the American media Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), faces up to five years in prison.
RFE/RL interim president Jeffrey Gedmin said last week he was “concerned.” “Journalism is not a crime. She must be returned to her family immediately,” he added.
The status of “foreign agent,” reminiscent of the Soviet term “enemy of the people,” imposes administrative constraints and very strict financial control on the individuals or organizations concerned.
It is also necessary that every publication, including on social networks, is marked with this label.
These “foreign agents” include some of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most respected critics, such as Nobel Peace Prize winner and editor-in-chief of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, Dmitry Muratov.
Ms. Kurmasheva, who normally lives in Prague with her husband and children, traveled to Russia on May 20 for a “family emergency” but was unable to leave because her American and Russian passports were confiscated.
According to the website Tatar Inform, she was fined on October 11 for not disclosing her American citizenship to Russian authorities.
According to this media, which cites anonymous police sources, she worked in particular on the army’s mobilization of teachers.
Evan Gershkovich
Alsou Kurmasheva, who joined RFE/RL in 1998, works for her service in the Tatar and Bashkir languages, covering these ethnic minorities in Russia, particularly living in Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, the Volga and Ural regions.
The US Congress-funded media company RFE/RL, headquartered in Prague, was founded during the Cold War to counter Soviet propaganda in the Eastern Bloc. It still broadcasts content in a variety of languages, which are often sensitive in countries ruled by authoritarian regimes.
“I worked for (RFE/RL) because this medium is important to me and because its mission is to provide objective information to my people, especially the people who speak my language, Tatar,” Ms. Kurmasheva said in 2014.
She is the second American journalist arrested in Russia in 2023, after Evan Gershkovich.
The Wall Street Journal reporter, who was arrested while reporting on March 29, is arrested in Moscow.
Mr. Gershkovich, who has also worked for the AFP in Russia in the past, is accused of espionage, a crime punishable by 20 years in prison, a charge that he, Washington, his newspaper, his friends and his family deny.
Russia has never substantiated these allegations and the entire process is secret.
In recent years, several American citizens arrested in Russia have been released following a prisoner swap with Washington.