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US embassy seeks permission to attend Gershkovich trial on July 18

"We were able to observe his last hearing on the 26th of June, we weren't able to talk and engage with Evan, but we at least had some people from the Embassy who were able to get eyes on," US special presidential envoy for hostage affairs told

Evan Gershkovich AP Photo

Evan Gershkovich

WASHINGTON, July 18. /TASS/. Staffers of the US Embassy in Russia will seek a permission to attend the July 18 court hearing into The Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich’s suspected spying activities, said Roger Carstens, US special presidential envoy for hostage affairs.

"The US embassy will make an attempt to try to get in and observe. We were able to observe his last hearing on the 26th of June, we weren't able to talk and engage with Evan, but we at least had some people from the Embassy who were able to get eyes on," he told the annual Aspen Security Forum.

The Sverdlovsk Regional Court held the first hearing in the case on June 26. The session was held behind closed doors.

According to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, "acting as an agent for the American side, collected top-secret data about the activity of an enterprise of the Russian military-industrial complex." In this connection, the journalist was detained in Yekaterinburg at the end of March 2023; criminal proceedings were initiated against him under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code ("Espionage"). He pleads not guilty.

Military operation in Ukraine

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