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Moscow court confirms arrest of WSJ reporter Gershkovich on suspicion of espionage

TASS earlier learned about the arrest from law enforcement agencies

MOSCOW, March 30. /TASS/. Moscow’s Lefortovsky District Court on Thursday confirmed to TASS the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter and US national Evan Gershkovich, who had earlier been detained in Yekaterinburg as part of an espionage case.

"Moscow’s Lefortovsky District Court on March 30, 2023 ruled to take into custody Gershkovich E., who is suspected of committing a crime that is provided for in Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code, until May 29, 2023," the court’s press service said.

TASS earlier learned about the arrest from law enforcement agencies.

The Public Relations Center of the Russian Federal Security Service, also known as the FSB, told TASS that 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 national under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Espionage"). Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the journalist was caught red-handed.

The WSJ said in a statement that it was deeply concerned about the safety of Gershkovich, who works at the newspaper’s Moscow bureau covering Russian events.

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