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Wall Street Journal Reporter Arrested for So-Called Espionage in Russia

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A reporter with the Wall Street Journal has been arrested in Russia on suspicion of espionage, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced Thursday.

Evan Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen, was detained in the west-central city Yekaterinburg, the counter-intelligence agency confirmed to state media. The FSB says that Gershkovich was “suspected of spying in the interests of the U.S. government” and that his allegedly “illegal activities… have been stopped.”

The FSB further added that Gershkovich was arrested “while trying to obtain secret information,” and that he was acting “on the instructions of the United States” while collecting materials “on the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.” Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti said the materials constituted a “state secret.”

The FSB’s Investigation Department opened a criminal case of espionage against Gershkovich under Article 276 of Russia’s Criminal Code. If convicted, according to Meduza, he could face a sentence of up to 20 years.

Reports of a man being detained in Yekaterinburg emerged in local media on Wednesday. The Telegram channel of one outlet in the city reported that one of its readers had witnessed someone being abducted at the Bukowski Grill restaurant in the center of Yekaterinburg. The witness said the person was being led away by what the presumed were “security forces in civilian clothes” into a minibus. “A sweater was pulled over [the detainee’s] head so that passers-by could not see his face,” the report added.

Writing on his own Telegram account, PR worker Yaroslav Shirshikov commented on the report to suggest Gershkovich was the man being detained. Shirshikov said he’d spoken with Gershkovich “a couple of weeks ago” and had taken him around Yekaterinburg and introduced him to other people. Shirshikov claimed Gershkovich had been interested in public attitudes towards the Wagner PMC mercenary group, and that he’d worked safely in the city for several days before departing to Moscow.

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A source among Western journalists in the Russian capital told Meduza that as well as the visit to Yekaterinburg, Gershkovich also traveled to Nizhny Tagil in Sverdlovsk Oblast. Nizhny Tagil is home to the headquarters of Uralvagonzavod—a defense company which is the largest manufacturer of tanks in Russia.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Gershkovich covers Russia, Ukraine, and the former Soviet Union for the paper. He previously worked for Agence France-Presse, the Moscow Times, and the New York Times.

The Daily Beast has contacted the Wall Street Journal and the State Department for comment.

Source: The Daily Beast

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