Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter, was arrested in Russia on espionage charges, Russia’s top security agency said on Thursday, reported Al-Jazeera.
WSJ in a statement said, “The Wall Street Journal is deeply concerned for the safety of Gershkovich.”
The Federal Security Service (FSB), a top KGB successor agency, said that the WSJ reporter was detained from the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg while he allegedly tried to obtain classified information.
In a statement, FSB said, “Gershkovich acting on the instructions of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex,” read a WSJ report.
The FSB has also alleged that Gershkovich “was collecting classified information about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex that constitutes a state secret,” according to Al-Jazeera.
The date of arrest was not mentioned in the statement, but if convicted of espionage, Gershkovich could face up to 20 years in prison.
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