Moscow stresses that he was caught “red-handed” and stresses that “it will be a court that makes a decision” on the case
11 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Kremlin stressed on Tuesday that the United States “can and must protect the rights” of American journalist Evan Gershkovich, arrested in March for alleged espionage, although it has reiterated that “it will be a court that makes a decision” on the case.
“The United States can and must protect the rights of its citizen, who was caught red-handed and violated Russian laws. It is suspicious of this and the court will make a decision,” Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov was quoted as saying. Russian news agency Interfax has reported.
Peskov’s words came hours after the US State Department officially classified the case of the journalist, who works for The Wall Street Journal, as “wrong imprisonment.”
With this position, Washington implies that the espionage charges of which Gershkovich is accused are unfounded and authorizes the US official organizations to explore all avenues to obtain his release.
Gershkovich, detained in the city of Yekaterinburg, had been gathering information about the Wagner Group, owned by oligarch Yevgeni Prigozhin, who is considered a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and who has sent mercenaries to Ukraine.
