The Russian security services (FSB) on Thursday announced the arrest of the correspondent of the American newspaper Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich on charges of espionage.
The arrest of a foreign journalist on such an allegation is unprecedented in recent Russian history.
“The FSB foiled the illegal activity of the accredited correspondent (…) of the Moscow bureau of the American newspaper “Wall Street Journal”, citizen of the United States Evan Gershkovich,” the Russian Federal Security Service said in a press release quoted by Russian authorities.
He was “suspected of espionage for the benefit of the United States” and collected information “about a Russian military-industrial complex.”
Before joining the American daily in 2022, Mr. Gershkovich was a correspondent for AFP in Moscow and before that for the English language newspaper Moscow Times. The 31-year-old journalist speaks perfect Russian, is of Russian descent and his parents live in the United States.