Russian authorities detain a Wall Street Journal writer on suspicion of espionage

Russian authorities have detained an American reporter for the Wall Street Journal and accused him of spying, signaling a significant ratcheting of Moscow’s tensions with the United States and its campaign against foreign news media. Russia’s main security service, the FSB, claimed that Evan Gershkovich, a correspondent based in Moscow, had been trying to obtain state secrets. The US newspaper “vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter,” it said in a statement. A Russian district court in Moscow said Thursday that Gershkovich would be detained until May 29. It is the first time an American journalist has been detained on accusations by Moscow of spying since the Cold War, and comes a week after US authorities arrested Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov.

The Kremlin did not comment when asked if Gershkovich’s arrest was a “retaliatory measure” after the US arrested a Russian on espionage charges last week. National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby declined to weigh in on reports The US State Department began tracking Vladimir Gershkovich's arrest in Yekaterinburg, on the eastern side of the Ural Mountains, on Wednesday afternoon before the news broke publicly. The US State Department and White House said their officials had spoken with The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday night about Gershkovich's arrest, and that Biden was briefed. The Biden administration has been in contact with his family and the State Department has reached out to the Russian side, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Thursday. Gershkovich covers Russia, Ukraine and the former Soviet Union, and previously worked for news agencies Agence France-Presse, the Moscow Times and the New York Times.

Detained Americans have led to lengthy and difficult negations between Washington and Moscow. Brittney Griner was released in December in a prisoner swap for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, while Paul Whelan was detained at a Moscow hotel in December 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in a Russian prison in 2020 after a trial US officials called unfair. The White House has not found a way to resolve cases like Paul Whelan's, where an American is falsely charged with espionage by the Kremlin. US lawmakers have referred to Evan Gershkovich's detention as a "hostage-taking" and "kidnapping," saying that it is yet another attempt by Russia to ramp up pressure on the West, following a series of ominous declarations by Putin referencing his nuclear arsenal. Florida Congressman Jared Moskowitz and California Congressman Adam Schiff described Gershkovich's detention as a "kidnapping," with Moskowitz saying that this is not the game that Putin should be playing and that Joe Biden has shown that he's not someone who's going to be toyed with when it comes to these sort of things.

The detention of Evan Gershkovich, the first journalist to be accused of spying by Russia since 1986, marks a significant stepping up of Russia’s campaign against foreign media. Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin made it a crime to disseminate “fake” information about the Russian army and the invasion of Ukraine. Gershkovich is the first journalist to be accused of spying by Russia since 1986, when reporter Nick Daniloff was detained on a similar charge while working for the U.S. News and World Report newspaper and magazine. The National Press Club on Thursday called on Russia to immediately release Gershkovich, calling his detention “unjust,” and also urged action from the State Department.

“Evan Gershkovich is a journalist. He should be released immediately and unharmed and allowed to return to his important work,” said Eileen O’Reilly and Gil Klein, journalism presidents of the National Press Club.