MOSCOW, March 31. /TASS/. It will be absurd and wrong to expel all bona fide Russian journalists from the United States following the arrest of The Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich in Russia, Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the media, while commenting on WSJ calls for such a measure.
"Since this journalist was caught red-handed, the situation is obvious. Well, the newspaper is free to demand the expulsion of all Russian journalists in this connection, of course, but this should not happen. There is simply no reason for this," Peskov said. He noted that violations of the law and attempts to go beyond the bounds of legal activities were a totally different matter.
"In this case, it would be absurd and wrong to limit the rights of bona fide journalists," the Kremlin spokesman stressed.
Peskov pointed out that all foreign journalists with valid accreditation "can and do continue their journalistic activities in our country."
"They do not face any restrictions and work perfectly well. But in this case, we are confronted with essentially spying activities disguised as journalism," he added.
According to the public relations center of Russia’s federal security service FSB, Gershkovich, "acting at the behest of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of an enterprise within Russia’s military-industrial complex." The reporter was detained in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg. The FSB investigators opened a criminal case against the US citizen under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Espionage").
On March 30, Moscow’s Lefortovo Court arrested Gershkovich. In turn, The Wall Street Journal expressed deep concern over the journalist’s safety, adding that he worked in its Moscow bureau and his job was to cover Russia’s current affairs.