an American journalist from the “Wall Street Journal” arrested for “espionage”

An unprecedented case in the recent history of the country. Russia announced the arrest for “spying” by Evan Gershkovich, an American journalist from wall street journal, against a backdrop of repression since the start of the war in Ukraine. According to the Russian secret services, quoted by the Russian agencies, he is suspected of having collected information “on a business of the military-industrial complex” Russian “for the benefit of the United States”. The FSB claims to have “thwarted illegal activity” of the journalist. Evan Gershkovich faces 10 to 20 years in prison. THE wall street journal said to himself “deeply concerned for safety” of his reporter, who joined the American daily in 2022 after working in the Moscow office of AFP and the English-language newspaper The Moscow Times.

Since the launch of the Russian offensive against Ukraine, the Russian authorities have intensified their repression of the opposition and independent media, generally using provisions of the criminal code punishing the act of “discredit the army”. The Russian press and journalists critical of the Kremlin are often the target of criminal proceedings in Russia, but foreign journalists had been rather spared, Moscow preferring to expel correspondents and toughen accreditation rules. Foreign reporters are also sometimes followed by the security services during their reporting.

According to an independent Russian analyst quoted by AFP, the FSB was able to take the journalist “Held hostage” for a possible exchange of prisoners. Russian-American exchanges have indeed taken place a few times in recent years, as was the case for basketball player Brittney Griner. Several American nationals are still detained in Russia, including Paul Whelan. The latter, arrested in 2018, is serving a 16-year prison sentence for “spying”, in a case that the interested party and Washington consider to be fabricated.