"The foreigner was detained in Yekaterinburg while attempting to obtain classified information," the FSB said, referring to a city in central Russia more than 1,000 miles east of Moscow.
The Wall Street Journal said it was "deeply concerned for the safety" of its reporter, adding in a later statement that it "vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich. We stand in solidarity with Evan and his family."
Gershkovich had
recently contributed to reporting for the Journal on the Wagner Group, a company whose founder has links with Vladimir Putin and whose private army of mercenaries has played a key role in the war in Ukraine. Wagner mercenaries have been at the forefront of Russia's ongoing assault on the Ukrainian-held, front-line town of Bakhmut, where Ukrainian forces have told CBS News the private fighters — many of whom
were previously recruited from Russian prisons — were being thrown at the front line in waves with seemingly little regard for their lives.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Thursday in a post on the Telegram messaging app that what Gershkovich "was doing in Yekaterinburg has nothing to do with journalism. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that the status of a 'foreign correspondent', a journalistic visa and accreditation are used by foreigners in our country to cover up activities that are not journalism."
Government spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the matter one for Russia's security services, but he said the Kremlin "understood" that Gershkovich had been "caught red-handed," without offering any further detail. Peskov warned the U.S. not to take any retaliatory measures against Russian journalists in the U.S., saying it "must not happen."
