(Moscow) The trial of American journalist Evan Gershkovich, accused of collecting information on a Russian tank factory for the CIA and imprisoned for more than a year, will begin on June 26 in Yekaterinburg, in the Urals.
The 32-year-old Wall Street Journal journalist was arrested in March 2023 by the Russian security service (FSB) while reporting in Yekaterinburg and charged with “espionage,” a crime punishable by 20 years in prison.
He, his relatives, his employer and his country firmly reject these accusations, which Russia has never substantiated, and denounce a fabricated affair.
His trial “will take place behind closed doors” in Yekaterinburg, the Sverdlovsk Regional Court said in a statement on Monday, specifying that “the first hearing has been set for June 26, 2024.”
Washington and Moscow have indicated that they are in contact to reach an exchange of prisoners which would allow his release, but no agreement has been reached so far.
The discussions “are continuing and must continue in complete silence,” the spokesperson for the Russian presidency, Dmitri Peskov, reminded the press on Monday.
Uralvagonzavod is one of Russia’s largest arms manufacturers, producing, among other things, T-90 battle tanks used in Ukraine and the new generation Armata tank, as well as freight wagons.
Russia never publicly presented evidence against Evan Gershkovich and the entire proceedings were classified.
“These accusations have zero credibility,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters last week, again calling for the journalist’s “immediate” release.
The accusations against Evan Gershkovich are of a seriousness not seen since the end of the USSR for a foreign journalist.
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 again indicated that contacts were “constant” between Russia and the United States to reach an agreement.
Since the arrest of Evan Gershkovich, Russian justice has systematically extended, every two to three months, his pre-trial detention in Lefortovo prison, held by the FSB in Moscow.
Dual nationals have also been recently 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 RFE/RL media funded by the US 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.
