Russia's FSB arrests WSJ reporter on suspicion of spying

Russia’s Federal Security Services (FSB) has arrested an American journalist working for the Wall Street Journal on suspicion of espionage. 

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday that the activities of Evan Gershkovich were “not related to journalism.”

“What an employee of the American edition of The Wall Street Journal was doing in Yekaterinburg has nothing to do with journalism,” Zakharova said on Telegram.

Yekaterinburg is famous for its heavy industry and steel-making and plays an important role in providing equipment for the Russian military. It is also a major freight transportation hub and trading center for goods and equipment coming from China.

China proposes peace plan for Ukraine; Western countries reject it

The Chinese peace plan on Ukraine urges both sides to agree to a gradual de-escalation and warns against the use of nuclear weapons.

“Unfortunately, this is not the first time that the status of a ‘foreign correspondent,’ a journalistic visa and accreditation are used by foreigners in our country to cover up activities that are not journalism,” she added.

Moscow noted that it was not the first time that a famous reporter was caught "red-handed" gathering classified information.

The Kremlin spokesperson Dimitry Peskov told reporters that it was now up to the security service on how to proceed on the matter.

″This is the prerogative of the FSB. There has already been a statement from them, we have nothing to add here,” he said. “The only thing I can add is that as far as we know, he was caught ‘red-handed’.”

Asked to elaborate on what he meant by “red-handed,” Peskov said “I don’t know the details. This is the prerogative of the special services, which are fighting spies.” He said Moscow had no problems with the foreign reporters, "who carry out normal journalistic activities" in Russia and they will continue to do their journalistic work.

"Of course, if they have a valid accreditation, they will continue to work," Peskov said, emphasizing that, “There will be no problems with them.”

The FSB said earlier on Thursday that it had arrested the American reporter gathering military information about 1,800 kilometers out of Moscow in the distant city of Yekaterinburg located deep in the Ural mountains.

Russian security forces “stopped the illegal activities of the correspondent of the Moscow bureau of The Wall Street Journal, an American Gershkovich Evan born in 1991, accredited at the Russian Foreign Ministry, who is suspected of spying for the US Government.”

The American reporter “was collecting information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Russia.”

Gershkovich was “acting on instructions from the American side,” the FSB noted in explaining the case against the American reporter, adding that it had opened a criminal case against Gershkovich.

Meanwhile, the American daily newspaper based in New York City voiced concern about the safety of its reporter.

“The Wall Street Journal is deeply concerned for the safety of Mr. Gershkovich,” the publication said in a statement.

The arrest comes amid escalated tensions between Moscow and Washington over the Ukraine war and its devastating impact on the global economy.

Western sanctions, not Ukraine war, causing global recession: Analyst

The recession of the world economy has little to do with the issue of military conflicts in Ukraine, the main reason for the collapse is the heavy Western sanctions against countries like Russia, has said an analyst.

Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine in late February, following Kiev’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements and Moscow’s recognition of the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Since then, US-led Western countries have announced unprecedented sanctions on Russia while supporting Ukraine with huge shipments of weapons and munitions to fight Russia.

As a result, the US military-industrial complex has emerged as the economic winner of the Ukraine war.

Washington's reaction 

The United States on Thursday denounced Russia's detention of the reporter and said it was seeking consular access.

US officials said they were in touch with the family of Gershkovich as well as the newspaper and that the State Department had contacted Russia, AFP reported. 

"The targeting of American citizens by the Russian government is unacceptable. We condemn the detention of Mr. Gershkovich in the strongest terms," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

"I want to strongly reiterate that Americans should heed the US government's warning to not travel to Russia. US citizens residing or traveling in Russia should depart immediately."

Jean-Pierre called the charge of espionage "ridiculous."
 

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk