Journalist Gershkovich turned out to be not a friend, but an enemy

The Lefortovo Court of Moscow authorized the arrest of Evan Gershkovich, a correspondent for the Moscow bureau of the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal, until May 29. Earlier it was reported that he was delivered to Moscow from Yekaterinburg. The FSB also reported that Gershkovich had been detained on suspicion of espionage in Yekaterinburg. Here is what business FM court correspondent Maria Lokotetskaya said about the arrest:

“The meeting on the choice of a measure of restraint for the correspondent of the Moscow bureau of the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal, Evan Gershkovich, took place under increased security measures and in an atmosphere of unprecedented secrecy. I don’t remember this in many years. I was at many trials in the Lefortovo court both for the arrest of Russians accused of treason, and for the arrest of foreign citizens who are charged with espionage. Usually, reporters are sent to court to take protocol photos and videos, and then the process is closed due to the presence of state secrets in the case. Later, the press is invited to announce the decision. There was no such thing here. In the morning, the press secretary of the Lefortovo Court of Moscow, Anastasia Romanova, ignored the appeals of journalists who asked to report on the delivery of the defendant to the court. Nobody was allowed into the process, which apparently took place around 2:00 pm, including lawyer Daniil Berman. He told Business FM that he had entered into an agreement to defend Gershkovich, but refused to clarify with which of his relatives, citing attorney-client privilege. The defense lawyer said that in court he was not allowed to see the detainee or to the meeting itself, referring to the fact that Evan Gershkovich already has a lawyer by appointment. I note that the so-called free lawyer, in accordance with Article 51 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, is allocated to a citizen by the state if he or his relatives do not have the means to hire a lawyer by agreement. I accidentally managed to see Evan Gershkovich at 15:00, already when he was led by special forces to the door of the convoy premises. He wore a beige jacket with a hood pulled over his head and his hands were cuffed in front. The face was covered in sweat. Only 40 minutes after the detainee was taken away, and all journalists were expelled from the court to the street, the press secretary posted a message that the court authorized the arrest of the US citizen until May 29. Gershkovich has not yet been formally charged, he is in the status of a suspect. By law, this must be done within ten days of the arrest.”

According to the Federal Security Service, Gershkovich collected data constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex in the interests of the US government. He was detained while trying to obtain classified information.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said that what the WSJ employee was doing in Yekaterinburg had nothing to do with journalism. The Wall Street Journal denies the accusations against its journalist and demands his immediate release. In addition, it is reported that the publication will send lawyers to Yekaterinburg. The situation with the arrest of Gershkovich was commented by the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov:

Will Moscow cooperate with US intelligence agencies on this case?

– This is the prerogative of the FSB, there was already a statement from them, we have nothing to add here. The only thing I can say is that, as far as we know, he was caught red-handed.

– Could this incident be provoked by the fact that the bureaus of Russian journalists in the United States may be subjected to some additional verification?

“We hope that this will not happen, this should not happen, because, I repeat, it is not about suspicions, it is about the fact that he was caught red-handed.

– Regarding the general office and journalists of the WSJ, who are now in Russia. Will they be deported or will they have the option to stay in Russia?

– No, those who carry out normal journalistic activities, of course, if they have valid accreditation, they will continue to work.

Before the FSB reported about the arrest, the Yekaterinburg media wrote about the disappearance of Evan Gershkovich. According to local PR man Yevgeny Shirshikov, whom Gershkovich interviewed, the WSJ journalist was interested in the attitude towards PMC Wagner in society. The correspondent of the “Crime” department of Ura.ru Sergey Batin says:

“Information about the disappearance of this journalist appeared in the morning, it was reported about the loss. And later, closer to 12 o’clock, the FSB just reported this detention. It is only known that he collected information constituting a state secret at some enterprises in the Sverdlovsk region. A criminal case has been initiated under the article on espionage. It is known that he received accreditation from the Russian Foreign Ministry and worked in the Moscow bureau of the WSJ. We are currently investigating who gave him the task and how he ended up in Yekaterinburg.”

Evan Gershkovich is 31 years old, he is a US citizen, was born in a family of Soviet emigrants. For the last six years he has been living in Moscow, speaks and writes in Russian, like all foreign journalists, he has accreditation in the Russian Foreign Ministry. In The Wall Street Journal, Gershkovich covers topics related to Russia, Ukraine and other republics of the former USSR. Previously, the journalist worked for Agence France-Presse and The New York Times. Political scientist Georgy Bovt comments:

“The formal basis for arresting this correspondent, who had previously worked for the Times and other publications, was not difficult to find in principle. As an accredited journalist for The Wall Street Journal, he went to Yekaterinburg, which is full of all kinds of defense enterprises, so it was not difficult to suspect him of collecting information about these enterprises. Perhaps he really collected something like that at the level of a journalist. Therefore, it was not a very neat act on his part. Although it is unlikely, in my opinion, that we are talking about such a full-fledged espionage, this is most likely really such an in-depth journalistic work. In addition, such an incident fits well with the informal rivalry between Russia and the United States in terms of the arrest of citizens. The US seizes Russian citizens for cybercrime, for financial affairs. Russia is resorting to tried and true means of capturing foreign spies. All this together replenishes the informal exchange fund with prisoners or prisoners, their exchanges take place periodically. If a Wall Street Journal journalist is accused of espionage and imprisoned, I think that this is the case, then it is unlikely that he will serve a full term. Most likely, he will be exchanged for one of the Russians, which will be an occasion for representatives of the political leadership of both countries to meet and talk among themselves about this matter. Moreover, they have not been talking about other issues for almost a long time, there is nothing more to talk about except for the exchange of prisoners at the moment.”

Cases of arrest of accredited journalists on charges of espionage are extremely rare. At the same time, there are cases when journalists really worked for intelligence. For example, career intelligence officer Yuri Kobaladze, who later rose to the rank of major general and headed the press bureau of the Foreign Intelligence Service, once worked as a correspondent for the State Radio and Television in London.

Yury Rogulev, director of the Franklin Roosevelt Foundation for the Study of the United States, discusses whether journalists often work for special services:

“The US used the journalistic corps during the Cold War, which is called tail and mane. I don’t mean the USA, but the CIA. So this is not an isolated case. Now the situation with the United States is not easier, the staff of the embassy is very limited, they sit behind their wall in the embassy building, they don’t go anywhere in particular, they don’t leave, contacts are reduced to a minimum. The situation is such that only journalists remain and a few, maybe businessmen, those who still continue to work here, who can perform such actions. But as far as Russian and former Soviet journalists are concerned, I can’t say anything in this sense. There has not been a single case of the arrest of a Soviet or Russian journalist who would be suspected of working for the special services in America, this just never happened. How will this affect relationships? It won’t affect it at all. We don’t have any relationship. The only thing that can be affected is the ongoing problems we have in terms of the exchange of people who are behind bars in both countries. The United States was really hunting for such people, they sought to add to their list of such people who could be used for exchange in the future. I think that our services are not out of the blue either, they are also working in this regard.”

A case was initiated under Article 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“espionage”). This article provides for punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of 10 to 20 years.