Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said it arrested Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in the city of Yekaterinburg on spying allegations, a state-run news agency reported on Thursday.
The FSB "stopped the illegal activities of the correspondent of the Moscow bureau of the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal, accredited at the Russian Foreign Ministry, U.S. citizen Gershkovich Evan, born in 1991, suspected of espionage in the interests of the American government," state news agency Tass quoted the security service as saying.
"It has been established that Evan Gershkovich, acting on instructions from the American side, was collecting information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex," the statement said.
"While trying to obtain secret information, a foreigner was detained in Yekaterinburg," the FSB added.
The FSB opened a felony espionage case against Gershkovich. He could face a prison sentence of up to 20 years if convicted.
Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry and the U.S. State Department via email for comment.
Gershkovich covers Russia for the Wall Street Journal, and was previously a reporter for Agence France-Presse (AFP) and The Moscow Times. He has also had work published in The New York Times, The Economist, MIT Technology Review, Foreign Policy and Politico Europe.
Earlier, local news outlet 66.ru reported that Gershkovich had gone missing in Yekaterinburg, citing a local "PR expert," Yaroslav Shirshikov, who said he had accompanied the reporter on a previous reporting trip he made.
Shirshikov said Gershkovich came to Yekaterinburg to work on a story about the ongoing war, and the Wagner Group—the notorious paramilitary outfit that is heavily involved in current fighting in Bakhmut, in Ukraine's Donetsk region.
"He came on such a big expedition. The most important thing that interested him was the attitude towards the Wagner PMC and the special operation in general," he said.
Shirshikov said that on March 28, Gershkovich told him that he would be returning to Yekaterinburg, and they were supposed to meet on Thursday.
"Yesterday around 3 p.m. he was online for the last time. He agreed to talk to me on Thursday. We were supposed to see each other today," said Shirshikov.
Journalist Dmitry Kolezev said on his social media channels on Thursday that two of his sources had confirmed Gershkovich's arrest.
Russia-based journalist Eva Hartog, former editor with The Moscow Times, said on Twitter that she has known Gershkovich since his first day in Russia "many years ago."
"This is total, horrifying bogus," she said.
"Our friend & colleague @evangershkovich has been detained in Russia," The Washington Post's Russia correspondent Francesca Ebel tweeted.
"The FSB has accused him of spying. He was fully accredited as a reporter by MFA. Evan is an excellent thoughtful journalist who cares deeply about his work & these allegations are absurd."
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more
