The Russian secret service FSB accuses the American journalist Evan Gershkovich of espionage. The Moscow correspondent of Wall Street Journal was arrested in Yekaterinburg on Wednesday and is being held in custody. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison. It is probably the most serious action taken against a Western journalist since the beginning of the war.
Gershkovich, on “instructions from the American side,” collected information “constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the companies of Russia’s military-industrial complex,” several Russian news agencies quoted the FSB as saying. Evidence for this claim has not been published.
The Wall Street Journal In a statement, he “vehemently denied the FSB’s allegations” and called for “the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich. We stand behind Evan and his family.” The editorial team had previously stated that they were “deeply concerned for the safety of Mr. Gershkovich”.
The journalist has been living in Moscow for years
The 32-year-old journalist and US citizen is accredited as a foreign correspondent with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has lived in Moscow for several years and has worked for the AFP news agency, for the New York Times and the Moscow Times worked.
Before the FSB confirmed his arrest, Russian media had reported his disappearance in Yekaterinburg, a major city east of the Ural mountains. The local newspaper Vechernye Vedomosti quoted a reader who saw a man being led away by men in plain clothes near a grill restaurant. They would have pulled the sweater over the head of the arrested man, probably so that passers-by could not see his face. Then he was taken to a minibus.
Activist Yaroslav Shirshikov wrote on Telegram that he met Gershkovich in Yekaterinburg a few weeks ago and accompanied him through the city. Gershkovich was mainly interested in the Wagner mercenary group. The journalist went back to Moscow, but then came back to Yekaterinburg. Shirshikov writes that Gershkovich asked him to meet again – but that never happened.
In Moscow, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman commented on the case on Thursday. Dmitry Peskov said he had nothing to add to the FSB’s statement. “The only thing I can say, as far as we know, he was caught in the act.” What Gershkovich did in Yekaterinburg “has nothing to do with journalism,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram. It was not the “first known Westerner” who was caught.
The changed espionage law makes the work of journalists dangerous
Russian opposition figures and independent journalists were shocked by the arrest. “Evan Gershkovich is a good and courageous journalist, not a spy,” wrote Russian intelligence expert Andrei Soldierov on Twitter, who lives in exile. Soldierov calls the arrest a “frontal attack on all foreign correspondents who are still working in Russia. That means the FSB has been let loose.” Colleagues from Alexei Navalny’s team wrote that Gershkovich was taken hostage, possibly for a later prisoner exchange.
The problem is the recently revised Russian legislation, according to the Telegram channel of Russian Kremlin expert Tatyana Stanovaya, who also no longer lives in Russia. The FSB’s interpretation of espionage today allows the arrest of anyone “who is simply interested in military affairs, i.e. writing about the war against Ukraine, about private military companies, the state of the army, arming the troops with ammunition, military tactics and Strategies…”. Even those who are only looking for information on the Internet or asking experts for comments may risk prosecution.
According to information from the newspaper Kommersant Gershkovich is to be taken to the Lefortovo remand prison in Moscow.