7 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has formally charged US journalist Evan Gershkovich, who works for The Wall Street Journal and was arrested last week by Russian authorities, with espionage.
“The FSB investigation concluded with the accusation against Gershkovich of espionage in the interests of his country. He categorically denied all the accusations and stated that he was involved in journalistic activities in Russia,” an FSB spokesman said, according to the news agency. TASS news.
Gershkovich, accused of espionage under article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code, “on the instructions of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the companies of the Russian military-industrial complex.”
The Russian authorities detained the journalist, at the request of the Lefortovo court, in the city of Yekaterinburg. Gershkovich had been gathering information about the Wagner Group, owned by oligarch Yevgeni Prigozhin, who is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and has sent mercenaries to Ukraine.
The last article by the journalist, who faces a possible sentence of up to 20 years in prison, was published by ‘The Wall Street Journal’ and dates from March 28 under the headline ‘Russia’s economy is beginning to unravel’.
Gershkovich previously worked for the French news agency AFP and the Russian newspaper ‘The Moscow Times’. Likewise, he has published in ‘The New York Times’, ‘The Economist’, ‘MIT Technology Review’, ‘Foreign Policy’ and Politico Europe, among other media, according to his website.
