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Wall Street Journal again calls for reporter Gershkovich’s release

The WSJ rejected all accusations against its reporter and demanded his immediate release

Evan Gershkovich Sergei Savostyanov/TASS

Evan Gershkovich

© Sergei Savostyanov/TASS

NEW YORK, April 2. /TASS/. The Wall Street Journal once again called for release of its reporter Evan Gershkovich, detained in Russia over espionage charges.

"The Wall Street Journal demands the immediate release of our colleague Evan Gershkovich, a distinguished journalist who was arrested while reporting in Russia," the WSJ said in its statement on Twitter. The statement characterizes Gershkovich’s detention as a "vicious affront" to the freedom of press, which "should spur outrage in all free people and governments throughout the world."

Earlier, the WSJ rejected all accusations against its reporter and demanded his immediate release. It also expressed concerns for Gershkovich’s safety.

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 ("Espionage"). Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the journalist had been "caught red-handed." On March 30, Moscow’s Lefortovo district court ordered to arrest Gershkovich until May 29.

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