Wall Street Journal Reporter Detained on Espionage Charges in Russia

The Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich has been arrested in Russia on suspicion of espionage in the interests of the American government. He is accused of collecting information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex. Gershkovich is the first journalist with an American outlet to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War. The arrest comes amid high tensions between Moscow and Washington over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and as the Kremlin cracks down internally on free speech.