MOSCOW, May 26. /TASS/. The defense team of Evan Gershkovich, the The Wall Street Journal correspondent accused of espionage, has filed an appeal with a Moscow court against the extended detention of the defendant, a source in the Lefortovo Court told TASS on Friday.

"The court has registered an appeal as of May 23 in regard to Gershkovich," the source said.

On May 23, Moscow’s Lefortovo Court extended Gershkovich’s detention for three months.

According to the Public Relations Center of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Evan 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. FSB investigators opened a criminal case against the US citizen under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code (RCC) ("Espionage"). At that time, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the journalist had been "caught red-handed." On March 30, Moscow’s Lefortovo District Court ordered that Gershkovich be held in custody until May 29.