Alsu Kurmasheva, a dual Russian-American reporter with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty , was detained in the southwest Russian city of Kazan on Wednesday while awaiting the return of her passports, her employer said in a
The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, said RFE/RL, which is a U.S. government-funded media company. Wall Street Journal reporterKurmasheva has been working with the company's Tatar-Bashkir Service, RFE/RL said. She traveled to Russia for "a family emergency" in May, according to RFE/RL, and was temporarily detained while waiting for her return flight on June 2 at Kazan airport, where she had her U.S.
Russian news outlet Tatar-Inform said Russian authorities accused Kurmasheva of "conducting a targeted collection of military information about Russian activities via the Internet in order to transmit information to foreign sources." NBC News could not verify this claim.They used chemical hair straighteners, then lost the ability to have children
The Committee to Protect Journalists said in a separate statement it was "deeply concerned" about Kurmasheva's detention, calling charges against her "spurious," and also called on Russian authorities to release her immediately.