WSJ Reporter Detained in Russia, Accused for Spying for US

Evan Gershkovich, who covers news from Russia, Ukraine and other parts of the former USSR for the American newspaper, was accused of trying to collect intelligence at a defense factory in violation of Russia’s laws on state secrets, the statement said.  

The journalist now faces between 10 and 20 years in prison on espionage charges. 

The FSB revealed that Gershkovich, a US citizen who had obtained the necessary journalistic credentials from the Foreign Ministry to work in Russia, “acted in the interest of the US government” when he sought to obtain classified information. He was arrested “during an attempt to receive” the intelligence, the statement added. 

Before joining the WSJ, Gershkovich was a reporter for Agence France-Presse and the Moscow Times, and a news assistant at the New York Times, according to his bio.