Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was detained on espionage charges, arrived at a Moscow court Thursday for a hearing on a motion by the prosecution to extend his arrest.
A 31-year-old United States citizen, Gershkovich was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg while on a reporting trip to Russia in late March. He and his employer deny the allegations, and the U.S. government declared him to be wrongfully detained. Russian authorities have not provided any evidence to support the espionage charges.
Russia’s Federal Security Service said Gershkovich, “acting on the instructions of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.”
On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal said in a statement: “Today, our colleague and distinguished journalist Evan Gershkovich appeared for a pre-trial hearing where his improper detention was extended yet again. We are deeply disappointed he continues to be arbitrarily and wrongfully detained for doing his job as a journalist. The baseless accusations against him are categorically false, and we continue to push for his immediate release. Journalism is not a crime.”
Gershkovich is the first American reporter to to face espionage charges in Russia since September 1986, when Nicholas Daniloff, a Moscow correspondent for U.S. News and World Report, was arrested by the KGB.
Analysts have pointed out that Moscow may be using jailed Americans as bargaining chips after U.S.-Russian tensions soared over the Kremlin’s military operation in Ukraine. At least two U.S. citizens arrested in Russia in recent years including WNBA star Brittney Griner — have been exchanged for Russians jailed in the U.S.