Russia has arrested Evan Gershkovich, a reporter working for The Wall Street Journal, according to the country’s Federal Security Service. Gershkovich is a U.S. citizen assigned to the newspaper’s Moscow Bureau. The FSS confirmed it has opened an “espionage” case against him.
Gershkovich was detained in the city of Yekaterinburg in the Urals and is reportedly being taken to Moscow. “The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation stopped the illegal activities of the correspondent of the Moscow bureau of the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal, Evan Gershkovich, born in 1991, who is suspected of spying for the American government,” the FSB said in the statement.
It continued, “It was established that Gershkovich, acting at the request of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of an enterprise of the Russian military-industrial complex.”
The statement added that Gershkovich was “attempting to obtain classified information.” According to his profile on The Wall Street Journal‘s website, the reporter currently covers Russia, Ukraine and the former Soviet Union.
In recent years, Russia has detained numerous U.S. citizens as tensions grow between the two countries. These include WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was exchanged in December for the convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout following months of high-profile back and forth.
“The Wall Street Journal is deeply concerned for the safety of Mr. Gershkovich,” The Wall Street Journal said in a statement.