the United States and the “Wall Street Journal” denounce “a travesty of justice”

The Russian Prosecutor’s Office announced Thursday that American journalist Evan Gershkovich would soon be tried in Yekaterinburg, in the Urals, for “espionage”. Washington calls for his “immediate” release.

According to Russian authorities, Evan Gershkovich, a 32-year-old American reporter, was not just doing his job when he was arrested in Yekaterinburg in March 2023. He “collected confidential information”on behalf of the CIA, on an arms manufacturer, Uralvagonzavod, which notably produces tanks and tanks used in Ukraine.

Moscow never provided any evidence and the entire procedure was classified secret.
After 16 months of pre-trial detention, extended from month to month, Evan Gershkovich will therefore be entitled to a trial for espionage. Unheard of for a Western journalist since the end of the Soviet Union. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

He will be tried for charges that he disputes and that his employer disputes. “The step that Russia has just taken to organize a mock trial is not surprising” but it’s “scandalous“, the indignant Wall Street Journal. “These accusations have zero credibility“, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller added on Thursday: “Evan did nothing wrong, journalism is not a crime. The accusations against him are false and the Russian government knows they are false. Evan must be released immediately “. Requirement also approved, Thursday June 13, from Brussels by the head of NATO.

If Moscow persists, it is to increase its value before exchanging it. Vladimir Putin even said against whom: Vadim Krassikov, an FSB agent sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany, for an assassination committed in Berlin five years ago on a Chechen opponent. Talks are underway with Washington, the head of the Kremlin acknowledged this a few days ago, while explaining that they demanded the greatest discretion… Another American imprisoned in Russia is part of the deal: Paul Wheelan, a former marine, already convicted of espionage. According to his entourage, the opponent Alexeï Navalny was also the subject of an exchange project, his death in a penal colony on February 16 having apparently complicated the discussions.

Evan Gershkovich is in fact Russian-American and is not the only Westerner to suffer the wrath of Moscow. Another Russian-American journalist, Alsu Kurmasheva, has been in prison since October, accused of broadcasting “fake news” on the army. Ksenia Karelina, also a Russian-American, is accused of “high treason” for donating to the Ukrainian army.

On June 7, it was a French national, Laurent Vinatier, who was arrested for not having registered as “foreign agent” while he carried out parallel diplomacy missions to bring the Russian side closer to the Ukrainian side. These on-site profiles linked to the West are of high added value to nourish the diplomatic game.