First hearing of journalist, who denies charges of spying for the US, scheduled for 26 June in Yekaterinburg
Russia will hold the espionage trial of the detained American reporter Evan Gershkovich, who denies charges of collecting secrets for the CIA, behind closed doors later in June, a court in the city of Yekaterinburg has said.
Gershkovich, 32, was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) on 29 March 2023 in a steak house in Yekaterinburg on charges of espionage that carry up to 20 years in prison.
Gershkovich, the first American journalist to be detained on spy charges in Russia since the cold war more than three decades ago, denies the charges.
The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, claimed Gershkovich was trying to collect secrets about Uralvagonzavod, a powerful Russian defence enterprise that is one of the world’s biggest battle tank producers.
“According to the investigation authorities, the American journalist of the Wall Street Journal, Gershkovich, on the instructions of the CIA, in March 2023, collected secret information in the Sverdlovsk region about the activities of the defence enterprise JSC NPK Uralvagonzavod for the production and repair of military equipment,” the Sverdlovsk regional court said on Monday.
