Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich – detained in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo Prison for nearly 15 months on dubious spying charges – will stand trial, Russian authorities said Thursday. An indictment of Gershkovich has been finalized, according to Russia’s Prosecutor General’s office, who accused the journalist of 'gathering secret information' for the CIA about a facility that produced and repaired military equipment.
The Associated Press noted that Russian 'officials didn’t provide any evidence to back up the accusations' made against Gershkovich. Gershkovich will stand trial in the city of Yekaterinburg, where he was arrested last year during a reporting trip. The start date is unclear, and he faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy called the charges against him 'fiction.' The Wall Street Journal did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Gershkovich is the first American journalist to be arrested on spying allegations since the Cold War, underscoring the rock-bottom relations between the U.S. and Russia. In the past year, Gershkovich has been on the cover of TIME Magazine and mentioned in the State of the Union address by President Biden. Biden has personally called repeatedly for Gershkovich's release to no avail, and the journalist has continually lost appeals to end his pretrial detention.
The Associated Press and Fox News Digital’s David Rutz contributed to this report.
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