Russian justice announced Thursday that American journalist Evan Gershkovich will soon be tried in Yekaterinburg, in the Urals, for “espionage”, accusing him of having collected information on a tank factory on behalf of the CIA.
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This Wall Street Journal (WSJ) journalist, aged 32, was arrested in March 2023 by the Russian security services (FSB) during a report in Yekaterinburg. He, his relatives, his employer and his country denounce a fabricated affair, while Russia has never substantiated its accusations.
Washington and Moscow have indicated that they are in contact to reach an exchange of prisoners which would allow his release, but so far no agreement seems in sight.
“The criminal case was sent to the Sverdlovsk regional court for consideration on the merits,” the Russian prosecutor’s office said. It is now up to the court to set the date for the start of the trial.
AFP
“The step that Russia has just taken to organize a mock trial is not surprising, but very disappointing” and “scandalous”, reacted in a press release the management of the WSJ, which now said it expected “from the American government that “he is redoubling his efforts to obtain Evan’s release.”
The prosecution claimed that the reporter had “collected secret information” on the Uralvagonzavod company on behalf of American intelligence.
Uralvagonzavod is one of Russia’s largest arms manufacturers, notably producing T-90 battle tanks used in Ukraine and the new generation Armata tank, as well as freight wagons.
According to the court, “the investigation established and documented that Gershkovich (…) was tasked by the CIA in March 2023 with collecting secret information in the Sverdlovsk region on the activities of (this) defense company.”
Evan Gershkovich, who worked for AFP in Moscow between 2020 and 2021, rejects these accusations of “espionage”, punishable by 20 years in prison.
AFP
Russia never publicly provided any evidence and the entire procedure was classified secret. The prosecutor did not provide any additional information on Thursday.
The accusations against him are of unprecedented gravity since the end of the USSR for a foreign journalist.
“Contacts” in progress
Washington accuses Moscow of having taken it hostage to obtain an exchange, as has already been the case in the past.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was willing to exchange the journalist for Vadim Krassikov, imprisoned for life in Germany for the assassination of a former Chechen war commander in Berlin in 2019.
At the beginning of June, Mr. Putin further indicated that contacts were “constant” between Russia and the United States to reach an agreement.
“I won’t go into details. I know that the American administration is acting energetically to obtain his release,” said the Russian president, stressing that these talks must be carried out with the greatest discretion.
AFP
Efforts for such an agreement could, however, have taken a more complicated turn since the death in prison of Russian opponent Alexeï Navalny who, according to his entourage, was also part of a prisoner exchange project currently being negotiated.
In March, the American ambassador to Moscow, Lynne Tracy, indicated that Mr. Gershkovich “showed remarkable resistance and strength in the face of this grim situation,” calling on Moscow to release him without delay.
Since Evan Gershkovich’s arrest, Russian justice has systematically extended his pre-trial detention in Lefortovo prison, held by the FSB in Moscow, every two to three months.
Like him, former American marine Paul Whelan, imprisoned in Russia since 2018, is also awaiting an exchange and rejects the espionage accusations which earned him a 16-year prison sentence.
Dual nationals have also recently been arrested. Russian-American Ksenia Karelina was arrested in February, accused of “high treason” for making a donation to the Ukrainian army.
Before her, a Russian-American journalist, Alsu Kurmasheva, working for the media RFE/RL financed by the American Congress, was arrested in October 2023. She is accused of disseminating “false information” about the Russian army.
Russia also detained, at the beginning of June, a French national, Laurent Vinatier, collaborator of a Swiss conflict resolution NGO and accused of not having registered as a “foreign agent” collecting information on the Russian army
