Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office on June 13 confirmed a final espionage charge against American journalist Evan Gershkovich and sent his case to the regional court in Sverdlovsk.
“Investigators discovered and confirmed with documents that the American journalist of the Wall Street Journal newspaper, at the request of the CIA, in March 2023 collected classified information about the operations of the industrial facility Uralvagonzavod, which produced and repaired military equipment,” the office said in a statement, adding that Gershkovich “conducted the illegal acts under full measures of disguise.”
The 32-year-old American citizen was arrested in late March 2023 in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg while on a reporting trip.
Russian authorities have offered no evidence to support the espionage allegations, which The Wall Street Journal and the US government have strongly denied.
They say Gershkovich was simply doing his job as an accredited reporter when he was arrested.
The US State Department said in December that Moscow rejected a major offer it made to secure the release of Gershkovich and Paul Whelan – another American jailed in Russia on espionage charges.
Another American citizen currently held by Russian authorities is Alsu Kurmasheva, a Radio Free Europe journalist who was arrested in Kazan, the capital of Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan, in October 2023 and charged with failing to register as an “agent stranger”.
Before her arrest, Kurmasheva’s passport was confiscated after a visit to take care of her mother.
Radio Free Europe and the US government say the charges against her are retaliation for her work.
Many analysts and officials say it appears Russia is aiming to use the detained American citizens for prisoner swaps or other geopolitical purposes.
Russia is believed to be seeking the release of Vadim Krasikov, who was sentenced to life in prison in Germany in 2021 for the murder of Zelimkhan “Tornike” Khangoshvili – a Georgian citizen of Chechen origin who had fought with Russian troops in Chechnya and later he sought asylum in Germany.
