A reporter for the Wall Street Journal has been arrested in Russia on charges of espionage. Russia’s top security agency gave this information.
According to the Federal Security Service (FSB), Ivan Gershkovich was detained on Thursday in the Ural Mountains of Yekaterinburg while allegedly trying to obtain classified information.
Gershkovich is the first correspondent for an American news organization to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War.
His arrest comes amid rising tensions between Russia and the US over the war in Ukraine.
The security service alleged that Gershkovich was ‘gathering classified information about the activities of an enterprise of the Russian military industrial complex on orders from the US.’
The FSB did not specify where the arrests were made. If convicted, Gershkovich could face up to 20 years in prison.
