Arrest of Evan Gershkovich: US Secretary of State urged Americans to leave the Russian Federation
"The United States is deeply concerned about the detention of the American correspondent in Russia, The Wall Street Journal Hershkovich. The US citizens who live or travel Russia should leave the country immediately," Blinken said. The US Secretary of State also stressed that in all cases of detention of Americans abroad, Washington asks consular access and tries to provide the necessary assistance. On Wednesday, March 29, Evan Gershkovich arrived from Moscow to Yekaterinburg.
The journalist at this time worked on material about Wagner PEC - a group of mercenaries created by the Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigogin, who is now fighting in Ukraine. On Thursday, March 30, it became known that the American journalist was detained by FSB staff. According to their version, Gershkovich allegedly collected data that constitutes the state secretary about the activity of one of the enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Russia.
The FSB Investigation Department has already initiated a criminal case against a citizen of America. The journalist is charged with espionage. On the same day, the Lefortov court arrested Gershkovich until May 29. The man is about to keep in the Lefort Sizo. Against the backdrop of the scandal with the detention and arrest of Evan Gershkovich, foreign media journalists working in Russia began to declare that at different times there were anonymous threats.
So journalist Jason Corcoran, who worked in 2022 by the freelancer The Sunday Times, said that in 2022 he received anonymous threats on Telegram. "We are sincerely disappointed by your publications, Jason. You now have personal security problems. " This message received a journalist in Telegram from anonymous. Corcoran himself associates threats with his professional activity. It was then that he worked on materials on the economic consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
"It seems that Evan's arrest foreign journalists who remain in Russia will be persecuted, threatened and faced with unjust claims, as well as their Russian colleagues," Corcoran summarized. In addition, he said that his friends - foreign journalists were faced with troubles on the border. "They were questioned in Sheremetyevo, removed phones, and in 1-3 hours were released," he said. We will remind, in February 2023 in Moscow detained ex-capitan FSB, which became a woman during the war.