U.S. officials on Thursday said they are "deeply concerned" by reports that Russia has detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
Russia announced on Thursday that it had detained the 31-year-old American in the eastern city of Yekaterinburg on suspicion of espionage.
Gershkovich is part of the Journal's Moscow bureau and had official Russian press accreditation, the paper reported. He has worked in Russia since 2017.
Russia’s security service, the FSB, released a statement saying it has “halted the illegal activities” of Gershkovich, saying he was "suspected of spying in the interests of the American government.”
The Journal denied those claims and called for Gershkovich’s immediate release.
“We stand in solidarity with Evan and his family,” the Journal said in a statement.
The U.S. State Department has been in direct contact with the Russian government over the arrest, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
"The targeting of American citizens by the Russian government is unacceptable," she said, adding that White House and State Department officials have been in touch with the Journal and Gershkovich's family.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement saying, "Whenever a U.S. citizen is detained abroad, we immediately seek consular access, and seek to provide all appropriate support.
"In the strongest possible terms, we condemn the Kremlin's continued attempts to intimidate, repress, and punish journalists and civil society voices."
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders said that Gershkovich had been investigating a story on the mercenary Wagner Group at the time of his arrest.
In January, the United States announced sanctions on Wagner, which has been supporting Russia in Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
The White House in late 2022 said Wagner had deployed around 50,000 fighters to Ukraine, many of them recruited from Russian prisons.
The FSB has accused Gershkovich of gathering information on a "military-industrial complex.”
The accusation was repeated by Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova and Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, who both alleged Gershkovich was "caught in the act.”
The Washington-based National Press Club on Thursday called for Gershkovich’s immediate release in a joint statement from its president, Eileen O’Reilly, and Gil Klein, head of the National Press Club Journalism Institute.
“Evan Gershkovich is a journalist. He should be released immediately and unharmed and allowed to return to his important work,” the club’s statement read. “We consider this an unjust detention and call on the State Department to designate his detention in that manner at once.”
Mike Quigley, co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, described Gershkovich's arrest as "an escalation not seen between our two countries since the days of the Soviet Union and the Cold War."
"I am deeply concerned that this detention is the latest salvo in [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's efforts to use Americans as leverage in his conflict with Ukraine," Quigley, a Democratic Representative from Illinois, said in a statement.
Several U.S. citizens are in detention in Russia, and both Washington and Moscow have accused the other of carrying out politically motivated arrests, Agence France-Presse reported.
In February of last year, U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner was arrested in Russia for carrying a small quantity of cannabis oil in an electronic cigarette cartridge. She received a nine-year sentence and was transferred to a prison labor camp. Griner was released in December in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Russia opened a criminal case in January against an unnamed U.S. citizen whom it said is suspected of espionage.
Former Marine Paul Whelan is serving a 16-year sentence on espionage charges in a penal colony outside Moscow.
Russia has become an increasingly difficult place for journalists in recent years, with authorities using its foreign agent law and other regulations to pressure media, according to rights organizations.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, it issued new directives and laws regarding how media can report on or refer to the war, which carry heavy penalties.
Foreign correspondents have previously reported being followed while on assignment in Russia, especially when reporting outside the main cities.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, also known as the CPJ, said that the arrest of Gershkovich marks a turning point for Russia.
The arrest sends "a clear message to foreign correspondents that they will not be spared from the ongoing purge of the independent media in the country," CPJ Europe and Central Asia coordinator, Gulnoza Said, said in a statement.
CPJ data shows at least 19 journalists detained for their work in Russia as of late 2022.
Gershkovich has been working for the Journal for just over a year, covering Russia and Ukraine.
His recent stories include coverage of economic problems in Russia, Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow, and the Russian jets that collided with a U.S. drone over the Black Sea.
Before joining the Journal, Gershkovich worked in Moscow for AFP and spent three years as a reporter for The Moscow Times. He also was a news assistant at The New York Times.
AFP reported that Gershkovich’s family immigrated to the United States from Russia when he was a child.
Some information for this story is from Agence France-Presse. Rob Garver contributed to this report.
