Russian security forces spied on Evan Gershkovich, a US correspondent for the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), even before he was arrested in Yekaterinburg on March 30 for espionage. On this subject writing WSJ, who spoke with acquaintances of the reporter.
According to the newspaper, during one of his editorial assignments, Gershkovich was “accompanied” by several Russian security officials, and some of them filmed his movements on camera. In addition, some people pressured the journalist’s sources not to speak to him.
Gershkovich himself, in turn, assumed his phone was tapped, the WSJ notes. On another trip, in the city of Pskov, unidentified people also followed the journalist and filmed him in front of the camera.
The fact that before his arrest Gershkovich was watched by FSB agents “for weeks” was reported by the Agency, citing sources. According to them, the WSJ correspondent knew about the surveillance and told his friends about it. As noted by the interlocutors of the publication, because of this, Gershkovich, for example, could use the services of a trusted driver in order to “work calmly”.
Arrest of Gershkovich
Evan Gershkovich is a Wall Street Journal Moscow bureau writer who has covered topics related to Russia, Ukraine and the former Soviet Union. On March 30, he was arrested by security forces in Yekaterinburg. A criminal case has been opened against the journalist for espionage (Article 276 of the Criminal Code), under this article he faces 20 years in prison. On March 31, the Lefortovo court in Moscow arrested Gershkovich for two months.
The FSB claims that Gershkovich, on instructions from the United States, collected secret information about one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex. As reported in the special service, the journalist was arrested while trying to obtain secret information.
Yekaterinburg public relations specialist Yaroslav Shirshikov, in turn, said that Gershkovich asked him about the attitude of local residents towards Wagner’s PMC. According to journalist Dmitry Kolezev*, Gershkovich also intended to talk to people close to Yekaterinburg’s defense factories about their thoughts on the military conflict with Ukraine. However, Kolezev* noted that he didn’t know if the WSJ reporter realized that idea.
The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, commenting on Gershkovich’s detention, said that as a foreign correspondent he engaged in activities that “have nothing to do with journalism.” The Russian President’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said the WSJ reporter had been “caught in the act”.
The WSJ editorial said it was deeply concerned for Gershkovich’s safety and “categorically denied” the charges against the journalist, and also demanded his immediate release. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has urged all Americans to leave Russia after the correspondent’s arrest.
WSJ too assumed that Gershkovich was arrested in exchange for Russians accused in the United States of committing crimes. A member of the Russian President’s Human Rights Council, journalist Eva Merkacheva believes that Gershkovich among American prisoners in Russia will be the “number one figure” in the exchange.
* registered by the Ministry of Justice of Russia in the register of foreign agents
