Joe Biden blasts Russia for ‘totally illegal’ arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter on spy charges as he claims the Kremlin is acting ‘out of bounds’
- Evan Gershkovich was arrested by Russian authorities on espionage charges
- First US journalist to be detained in Russia on spying accusations since 1986
The President yesterday condemned Russia for the ‘totally illegal’ arrest of a US journalist on spying charges.
Joe Biden said the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was ‘out of bounds’.
Mr Gershkovich, 31, was arrested by Russian authorities in the city of Yekaterinburg last month on espionage charges.
He is the first US journalist to be detained in the country on spying accusations since 1986, when the KGB arrested News and World Report correspondent Nick Daniloff.
But the US State Department has now offically classified Mr Gershkovich as ‘wrongfully detained’.
Joe Biden (pictured) said the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was ‘out of bounds’
Mr Gershkovich (pictured), 31, was arrested by Russian authorities in the city of Yekaterinburg last month on espionage charges
Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the designation on Monday, which transfers responsibility of the case to the Department’s Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.
According to the State Department’s website, detainees are wrongfully held if they are ‘arrested on discriminatory or arbitrary grounds’.
Speaking ahead of a three-day visit to Ireland, President Biden said: ‘We’re making it real clear that it’s totally illegal what’s happening, and we declared it so. It changes the dynamic.’
A Kremlin spokesman last night insisted that Mr Gershkovich had been caught ‘red-handed’.
He and the Wall Street Journal deny the spying charges.
Who is Evan Gershkovich?
Evan Gershkovich, 31, is a US citizen whose parents are from the Soviet Union.
He grew up in Princeton, New Jersey and graduated in 2010 from Princeton High School.
Gershkovich studied philosophy at Bowdoin College in Maine, where he played soccer and graduated in 2014.
His relationship status is unknown.
Why was Evan Gershkovich in Moscow?
Gershkovich had been living in Moscow since 2017, working as a journalist.
The FSB’s statement confirmed that Gershkovich was working with press accreditation issued by the Russian foreign ministry.
Moscow’s Lefortovo district court ordered US journalist Evan Gershkovich, 31, to be arrested on spying charges, to be held in pre-trial detention until May 29
Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova said Gershkovich was using his journalistic credentials as a cover for ‘activities that have nothing to do with journalism’.
He is the first American reporter to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since September 1986, when Nicholas Daniloff, a Moscow correspondent for US News and World Report, was arrested by the KGB.
What does Russia say about Evan Gershkovich?
Pictured: Gershkovich in Russia. The Federal Security Service said Evan Gershkovich was detained in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg while allegedly trying to obtain classified information
On March 30, Putin’s spokesman said: ‘There was already a statement from the FSB.
‘The only thing I can say is that, as far as we know, he was caught red-handed.’
He did not elaborate on what he is believed to have been caught ‘red-handed’ for.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: ‘What an employee of the American edition of The Wall Street Journal was doing in Yekaterinburg has nothing to do with journalism.
‘Unfortunately, this is not the first time that the status of “foreign correspondent”, a journalistic visa and accreditation, are used by foreigners in our country to cover up activities that are not journalism.
‘This is not the first well-known Westerner to be “grabbed by the hand”.’
Russian independent journalist Dmitry Kolezev said: ‘He understood this well, but he was sure that since he was not doing anything illegal, everything would be limited to ordinary surveillance and, perhaps, some kind of intimidation.
‘It turned out much worse.
‘Evan is a very brave guy, a good journalist, not a spy at all.’
What is Evan Gershkovich’s work history?
Evan Gershkovich is a reporter for The Wall Street Journal covering Russia, Ukraine and the former Soviet Union.
He started his journalism career at the New York Times where he worked as a news assistant for nearly two years.
He then worked as reporter based in the Russian capital for The Moscow Times, an English-language news website, until 2020.
Gershkovich took up a position as a reporter at the AFP wire service before joining the Wall Street Journal in 2022 as their reporter in Moscow.
His work can also be found in The New York Times, The Economist, MIT Technology Review, Foreign Policy and Politico Europe, among other publications.
He has been a guest on the BBC, NPR, Deutsche Welle and France 24, among other outlets.
Yekaterinburg was reportedly working on a story about the Wagner private military company before his arrest.
His last Wall Street Journal article, published on March 28, reported on Russia’s declining economy.
In the same month, he wrote about the front lines of Bakhmut in Ukraine, Russian aggression towards US planes and protests in the country of Georgia.
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