The Russian government’s Federal Security Service said it detained WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich in Yekaterinburg on an accusation of espionage. They are saying that Gershkovich has committed acts of spying on behalf of the U.S. government to try to steal state secrets from Russia.
The Russian government arrested the journalist while he was “trying to obtain secret information” “on the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.”
According to the Russian newspaper RIA Novosti, the FSB Investigation Department has opened an espionage case against the journalist. The Wall Street Journal defends its reporter against all allegations. They claim that these charges are inaccurate and are demanding the immediate release of the reporter.
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WSJ’s Senior Communications Manager Caitlyn Reuss wrote: “The Wall Street Journal vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich. We stand in solidarity with Evan and his family.”
Gershkovich has previously been a reporter for Agence France-Presse and the Moscow Times. According to his bio on the Wall Street Journal’s website, he also had a stint with the New York Times.
Fox News reports that the charges against Gershkovich could land him up to 15 years in jail. New Russian laws passed recently stiffened the penalties for this type of crime.
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For now, BBC News has suspended its reporting in Russia due to safety concerns for their reporters in the country. Fox News reports that a Russian reporter was recently charged under the new Russian law and sentenced to six years for what the government deemed “false reporting about its military operations in Ukraine.” In other words, the Russian government has decided it is acceptable to crack down even on its journalists within the country.
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There is certainly a lot of concern about what the outcome might be for Gershkovich and how this arrest chills the freedom of the press to do what they do within Russia. It is the case that the media has less stretch and latitude to report in Russia than they might in many other countries throughout the planet. It may scare some journalists away from Russia moving forward.
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