MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/. Russia’s Foreign Ministry continues to communicate with the US embassy over the situation involving US journalist Evan Gershkovich, of The Wall Street Journal, arrested on charges of espionage, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told the media on Wednesday.

"Yes, of course. We are in touch in a working mode," the high-ranking diplomat said in response to a corresponding question.

According to the Federal Security Service (FSB) Gershkovich, "acting on instructions from the American side, was collecting state secrets about the activities of one of the enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Russia."

The journalist was detained in Yekaterinburg. The FSB’s Investigative Directorate opened a criminal case against him under Article 276 of the Criminal Code (Espionage). According to Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, Gershkovich was detained red-handed. On March 30th, the Lefortovo court in Moscow put him in custody until May 29th.