The Russian authorities stated on Thursday that they’d detained an American journalist, Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Avenue Journal correspondent based mostly in Moscow, accusing him of espionage.
The Federal Safety Service, recognized by its Russian acronym F.S.B., stated in a press release about Mr. Gershkovich that “on the directions of the USA, he was gathering details about one of many enterprises of the Russian military-industrial advanced, which represent a state secret.” The F.S.B. is a successor company to the Soviet-era Okay.G.B.
Mr. Gershkovich was detained in Yekaterinburg, a metropolis about 900 miles east of Moscow, within the Ural Mountains, in keeping with Russian state-run information retailers, which reported the F.S.B. assertion.
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow didn’t instantly touch upon the report. A spokeswoman for Dow Jones, the writer of the Journal, didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Mr. Gershkovich has labored for the Journal in Moscow since January 2022 and beforehand reported in Russia for Agence France-Presse and The Moscow Occasions. Earlier than that, he was a information assistant for The New York Occasions, based mostly in New York.
Victoria Kim contributed reporting.
