MOSCOW: Russian prosecutors said on Thurs­day they had sent the case of detained US reporter Evan Gershkovich to court after concluding he had been collecting information for the US Central Intelligence Agency about a Russian tank factory.

Gershkovich, 32, was arrested on March 29, 2023, in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on charges of espionage that carry up to 20 years in prison after the FSB, the main successor agency to the KGB, said it had caught him “red-handed” trying to obtain military secrets.

He denies any wrongdoing and his employer, The Wall Street Journal, said in a statement on Thursday after the latest Russian move that he was facing “a false and baseless charge” based on what it called “calculated and transparent lies.” President Joe Biden has called his detention “totally illegal”.

The Journal spoke out after the office of Russia’s General Prosecutor said in a statement it had approved Gershkovich’s criminal indictment and that his case would be heard by a court in Yekaterinburg. It did not say when the case would be heard or whether the trial would be closed to the public as is common in such cases.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2024