Russia sets closed espionage trial for US reporter Evan Gershkovich
- Wall Street Journal reporter is the first Western journalist since the Soviet era to be arrested for spying in Russia
Russia’s espionage trial of detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who denies charges of collecting secrets for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), will be held behind closed doors, the trial court said on Monday.
Gershkovich, 32, was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) on March 29, 2023, in a steak house in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, 1,400km (900 miles) east of Moscow, on charges of espionage that carry up to 20 years in prison.
The first American journalist to be detained on spy charges in Russia since the Cold War more than three decades ago, Gershkovich has repeatedly denied the charges. The Journal says that Gershkovich was doing his job and deny he is a spy.
The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said that Gershkovich was trying to collect secrets about Uralvagonzavod, a powerful Russian defence enterprise which is one of the world’s biggest battle tank producers, for the CIA.
“The process will take place behind closed doors,” the Sverdlovsk Regional Court in Yekaterinburg said.
“According to the investigation authorities, the American journalist of The Wall Street Journal, Gershkovich, on the instructions of the CIA, in March 2023, collected secret information in the Sverdlovsk region about the activities of the defence enterprise JSC NPK Uralvagonzavod for the production and repair of military equipment,” it said.