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US ambassador to Russia says she visited Gershkovich in Lefortovo detention unit on Monday

Moscow’s Lefortovsky District Court has ruled to take Gershkovich into custody until May 29

MOSCOW, April 17. /TASS/. US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy has said she visited Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich at the Lefortovo detention unit on Monday.

"I visited WSJ’s Evan Gershkovich today at Lefortovo Prison - the first time we've been permitted access to him since his wrongful detention more than two weeks ago," she said in a post on the US embassy’s Twitter page. "He is in good health and remains strong. We reiterate our call for his immediate release."

The Public Relations Center of the Russian Federal Security Service, also known as the FSB, said 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.

Moscow’s Lefortovsky District Court has ruled to take Gershkovich into custody until May 29.