“Wall Street Journal” Reporter Held in Russia on Espionage Charges

In a very worrying development, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was detained by the Russian security services on Thursday. The US citizen is being held on espionage charges, his publication reported.

In a statement, the newspaper said:

The Wall Street Journal vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich. We stand in solidarity with Evan and his family.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram:

What an employee of the American publication The Wall Street Journal was doing in Yekaterinburg has nothing to do with journalism.

Detaining reporters trying to cover barbaric actions is a classic move of (desperate) authoritarian regimes. Without doubt, the Wall Street Journal, Gershkovich’s his family and US officials will be doing everything they can to get him home as quickly as possible. However, we saw in the case of basketball player Brittney Griner what a long and arduous process that can be.