Russian authorities have detained an American reporter for the Wall Street Journal and accused him of spying, signaling a significant ratcheting of both Moscow’s tensions with the United States and its campaign against foreign news media, which has been under intense pressure since President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale military operation in Ukraine last year, CNN reports.
Russia’s main security service, the FSB, claimed Thursday that Evan Gershkovich, a correspondent based in Moscow, had been trying to obtain state secrets. The Wall Street Journal categorically rejected those allegations, saying in a statement that it “vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter.”
Almar Latour, the chief executive of Dow Jones, which publishes The Wall Street Journal, condemned Gershkovich’s arrest in a memo to staffers Thursday, which was obtained by CNN, saying the company is working “around the clock” to secure his release. “This is an incredibly disturbing development,” Latour said.
A Russian district court in Moscow said Thursday that Gershkovich would be detained until May 29.
It is the first time an American journalist has been detained on accusations by Moscow of spying since the Cold War. It comes a week after US authorities announced charges against a Russian national, Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, accusing him of being a Russian spy.
The Kremlin did not comment when asked if Gershkovich’s arrest was a tit-for-tat move related to Cherkasov, who is currently incarcerated in Brazil on fraud charges, according to the US Department of Justice. Asked by CNN during a daily briefing Thursday if Gershkovich’s arrest was a “retaliatory measure” for the charges against Cherkasov, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov replied: “I do not have such information. I have nothing to say on this topic.”
John Kirby, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, declined to weigh in on reports Gershkovich’s detention may be a retaliatory move, telling reporters Thursday that the US was still trying to gather information.
But Kirby did acknowledge the challenges facing journalists in Moscow, saying that while the administration respects that reporters in Russia face risks “it doesn’t change our deep concern about Americans being in Russia.” He reiterated a warning to Americans to avoid traveling to the country.
The FSB said Gershkovich was detained in Yekaterinburg, on the eastern side of the Ural mountains, and claimed he was “trying to obtain secret information” relating to “the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.”
The FSB said the reporter, who is accredited by Russia’s foreign ministry, was “acting on the instructions of the American side.”
The US State Department began tracking Gershkovich’s arrest Wednesday afternoon before the news broke publicly, according to two US officials. The US government was first informed of his arrest by The Wall Street Journal, according to another US official.
The State Department and White House said their officials had spoken with The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday night about Gershkovich’s arrest, and that President Biden was briefed. The Biden administration has been in contact with his family, and the State Department has reached out to the Russian side, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Thursday.
“The State Department has been in direct touch with the Russian government on this matter, including actively working to secure consular access to Mr. Gershkovich,” Jean-Pierre said. “The targeting of American citizens by the Russian government is unacceptable. We condemn the detention of Mr. Gershkovich in the strongest terms.”
Consular access could take several days, “due to Russia’s administrative procedures and security requirements,” Vedant Patel, State Department principal deputy spokesperson, said in a briefing Thursday. He also said that the US Embassy in Moscow had requested official notification of Gershkovich’s arrest, which is required under bilateral consular convention.
