WSJ's Evan Gershkovich to stand trial in Russia on espionage charges
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Over a year following his arrest, Evan Gershkovich has been officially charged with espionage as evidence suggests he had been cooperating with the CIA was discovered.
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Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich stands in a glass cage in a courtroom at the First Appeals Court of General Jurisdiction in Moscow, Russia, April 23, 2024. (AP)
Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich has been charged with attempting to collect information for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) by Russia's prosecutor general on Thursday, RT reported.
Investigations claimed that evidence has been found that directly implicates the accused in trying to collect information on Uralvagonzavod, a prominent Russian producer of tanks and armored vehicles, for the foreign intelligence service, in March 2023.
Information compiled and provided by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) formed the premise of the case, which was motioned for trial at a court in the Urals region of Sverdlovsk.
Read more: Russia retaliates, denies US consular visit to jailed Evan Gershkovich
However, Gershkovich and his employer have both denied the accusations and claimed that the journalist was being unlawfully held. The WSJ also urged the government of the United States to respond and received confirmation that Washington was looking for "creative solutions" to settle the issue.
US officials have reportedly reached out to other governments regarding the possibility of taking custody of prisoners who might be of interest to Russia for a swap involving Gershkovich. Western media reports that Brazil, Norway, Germany, and an unnamed former Soviet bloc country have been approached with these requests.
The controversy surrounding Gershkovich was touched on in the interview between Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in February, as Carlson declared that the WSJ journalist was "obviously not a spy".
Putin, on the other hand, said that "getting classified information in secret is called espionage," adding that Gershkovich was "caught red-handed when he was receiving this information."
Despite the charges, Putin noted that Russia does not oppose the release of the journalist, but would not do it benevolently because the country has "exhausted" such approaches with Washington.
