A US reporter from the Wall Street Journal has been detained on espionage charges while covering Wagner’s Russian mercenary group – he claims the unit’s founder mocked when he said he would visit his “torture basement” to substantiate the journalist’s whereabouts.
Evan Gershkovich, 31, appeared in a Moscow court on Thursday and pleaded not guilty to the espionage charges, after which he was ordered to be remanded in custody until May 29.
Gershkovich, wearing a yellow hooded jacket, was then photographed as he was loaded right into a van waiting outside the courthouse and driven away.
Vladimir Putin’s FSB security service said on Thursday that Gershkovich had been detained in Yekaterinburg within the Urals on suspicion of collecting state secret details about an unspecified military factory.
“It has been established that E. Gershkowicz, acting on behalf of the American side, was collecting state secret information in regards to the activities of one of the enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Russia,” the FSB said in an announcement. which contained no evidence of the journalist’s alleged crime.
The Each day Beast contacted Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner Group, asking him to comment on reports that Gershkovich had been arrested after writing a few paramilitary organization fighting to capture the important thing city of Bakhmut in Ukraine.
Prigozhin, a longtime Putin ally, gave a deeply sarcastic response, openly mocking the investigation.
“I’m not aware of the detention of Evan Gershkovich in Yekaterinburg,” the pinnacle of the mercenaries wrote in response shared on his Telegram channel. “When you want, I can check the torture cellar in my house – to see if he’s there.”
Prigozhin continued in the identical derisive tone, writing: “Among the many American journalists I keep there, I didn’t notice him.”
“I can, in the event you like, check the freshly dug graves of foreign journalists on the property outside my house. But when I’m not mistaken, we didn’t bury him there.
The Wall Street Journal strongly denied the espionage allegations and demanded the immediate release of its “trusted and dedicated reporter.”
“We stand in solidarity with Evan and his family,” the newspaper wrote.
The White House said Thursday that officials within the Biden administration were “deeply concerned” by “disturbing” reports of Gershkovich’s detention.
Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in an announcement that each the White House and the State Department are in touch with The Wall Street Journal and Gershkovich’s family.
“As well as, the State Department is in direct contact with the Russian government regarding this matter, including actively working to secure consular access to Mr. Gershkovich,” Jean-Pierre wrote.
“The attacking of Americans by the Russian government is unacceptable. We strongly condemn the detention of Mr. Gerszkowicz,” the statement reads.
“We also condemn the Russian government’s continued attacks and crackdown on journalists and press freedom.”
Jean-Pierre reminded Americans to not travel to Russia and urged those that are there now to “leave immediately.”
Gershkovich covered Russia for six years in a range of publications, including the Moscow Times, Agence France-Presse and most recently the Wall Street Journal, which hired him in January 2022.
He’s essentially the most high-profile American detained in Russia since WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was freed in December in a prisoner exchange for arms dealer Victor But after spending 10 months behind bars on drug charges.
Daniil Berman, a lawyer representing Gershkovich, said he was not allowed into the courtroom during Thursday’s closed-door hearing, nor was he allowed to see the costs against his client.
Berman told reporters he believed Gerszkowicz can be taken to Lefortovo, a notorious Nineteenth-century Moscow prison where political prisoners were held through the Soviet era.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he believed Gershkovich had been “caught red-handed” but didn’t go into any details in regards to the case, which was marked “top secret”.
Gershkovich is believed to be the primary foreign reporter accused of spying in Russia in nearly 4 a long time.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said it was too early to discuss any possible prisoner exchange with the US, saying such deals are frequently made only after a defendant has been convicted.
If found guilty of espionage, Gershkovich faces as much as 20 years in a Russian prison.
The son of Soviet Jewish immigrants, in recent months Gerszkowicz has mainly handled Russian politics and the invasion of Ukraine.
Yaroslav Shirshikov, a political expert in Yekaterinburg, told Reuters that he spoke with Gershkovich two weeks ago and was scheduled to fulfill him again on Thursday, the identical day his arrest was announced.
He said the reporter asked him in regards to the attitude of the local population towards the Wagner mercenary group and told him that he planned to go to Nizhny Tagil, a city where a big tank factory is situated, to ask locals how their views on the conflict in Ukraine had evolved.
Shirshikov said that Gershkovich didn’t say anything about wanting information in regards to the military factory and was not “an enemy of Russia.”
Other foreign correspondents covering Russia supported Gerszkowicz on social media, saying he was doing his job as a reporter and was not a spy.
Andrei Soldatov, an writer and expert on Russian security agencies, tweeted: “Evan Gershkovich is a superb and brave journalist, not a spy. It is a frontal attack on all foreign correspondents still working in Russia. And which means the FSB is unleashed.”
Recent York-based Human Rights Watch called for his release.
“Evan is an impressive reporter and the Russian authorities should release him immediately,” Rachel Denber, deputy director of Human Rights Watch Europe and Central Asia, tweeted.
With postal wires