The Wall Street Journal’s Russia correspondent Evan Gershkovich was arrested by the Russian security agency FSB in Yekaterinburg on March 27, and charged with gathering information classified as a state secret about a military factory—a crime which carries a 20-year sentence if found guilty. The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board issued a statement denying the charges, and demanding retaliation from the Biden administration: “The Biden administration will have to consider diplomatic and political escalation. Expelling Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., as well as all Russian journalists working here, would be the minimum to expect,” the newspaper said. Biden responded: “That’s not the plan right now,” adding, when asked if he had a message to Moscow: “Let him go.” Kamala Harris said: “We will not tolerate—and condemn, in fact—repression of journalists.”
Gershkovich appeared in a Moscow court on March 30 and pleaded not guilty to spying. The New York Post notes that Gershkovich’s parents had emigrated from the Soviet Union.
The FSB alleges that Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen who has accreditation from the Foreign Ministry to work in Russia, “acted in the interest of the U.S. government” when he sought to obtain classified information. He was arrested “during an attempt to receive” the intelligence, the statement added.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he believed Gershkovich had been “caught red-handed,” but he did not go into any specifics.
