Wall Street Journal reporter detained in Russia for espionage; Moscow claims he was ‘caught red handed’

Russian agencies, citing FSB security service, reported Thursday that a US reporter for the Wall Street Journal newspaper has been detained in Russia on suspicion of espionage.

"The FSB halted the illegal activities of US citizen Gershkovich Evan...a correspondent of the Moscow bureau of the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal, accredited with the Russian foreign ministry, suspected of spying in the interests of the American government," the security services were cited as saying by Russian agencies.

The agencies said that the WSJ reporter is "suspected of spying in the interests of the American government" and of collecting information "on an enterprise of the Russian military-industrial complex."

Gershkovich is the first reporter of an American news outlet to have been detained on espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War. His detentioncomes at time when tension is brewingbetween Washington and Moscow over the Ukraine war.

The Federal Security Service (FSB), the Russian domestic security and counterintelligence agency that is the top successor of the Soviet-era KGB, claimed on Thursday that Gershkovich was detained in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg while he was trying to obtain classified information, reported US media outlets.

Meanwhile,The Wall Street Journal said Thursday it was "deeply concerned" for its reporter.

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"The Wall Street Journal is deeply concerned for the safety of Mr Gershkovich," the newspaper said in a statement.

Russia, in response, said thatGershkovich was "caught red-handed".

Before joining The Wall Street Journal, 31-year-old Gershkovich worked for AFP in Moscow. He has also worked as a reporter for The Moscow Times, an English-language news website. Gershkovich speaks Russian. His parents live in the United States but are originally from the Soviet Union.

The detention of the reporter is likely to escalate tensions between the United States and Russia.Gershkovich's arrest could impact both Moscow's diplomacy with the US and its international coverage amidst the war.

Gershkovich is the highest-profile American arrested by Russia since basketball star Brittney Griner. The player was caught arriving in Moscow with cannabis oil a week before the invasion of Ukraine and freed in a prisoner swap in December last year.

The USEmbassy's updated travel advisory tells UScitizens not to travel to Russia because of the danger of arbitrary arrest. It also asks UScitizens living or travelling in Russia to depart immediately.

(With inputs from agencies)

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