Russian court jails US reporter Gershkovich for 16 years after convicting him of espionage
- Russian prosecutors say he had gathered information on the orders of the US CIA about a firm that makes tanks for Moscow’s war in Ukraine
A Russian court found US reporter Evan Gershkovich guilty of espionage charges on Friday and jailed him for 16 years, Russian news agencies reported, in a case his employer, the Wall Street Journal, has called a sham.
Gershkovich, a 32-year-old American who said the allegations against him were false, went on trial last month in the city of Yekaterinburg. He was the first US journalist arrested on spying charges in Russia since the Cold War.
Espionage cases often take months to handle and the unusual speed at which his trial was held behind closed doors – Friday’s hearing was only the third in the trial – has stoked speculation that a long-discussed US-Russia prisoner exchange deal involving him and potentially other Americans detained in Russia may be in the offing.
The Kremlin, when asked by Reuters on Friday about the possibility of such an exchange, declined to comment: “I’ll leave your question unanswered,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Russian prosecutors had alleged that Gershkovich had gathered secret information on the orders of the US Central Intelligence Agency about a company that manufactures tanks for Moscow’s war in Ukraine, which he and his employer denied.