Russia’s espionage trial of detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who denies charges of collecting secrets for the U.S. CIA, will be held behind closed doors, the trial court said on Monday.
Gershkovich, 32, was detained by the Federal Security Service on March 29, 2023, in a steak house in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, 1,400 km (900 miles) east of Moscow, on charges of espionage that carry up to 20 years in prison.
The first American journalist to be detained on spy charges in Russia since the Cold War more than three decades ago, Gershkovich has denied the charges. The Journal says Gershkovich was doing his job and denies he is a spy.
The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said Gershkovich was trying to collect secrets about Uralvagonzavod, a Russian defence enterprise that is one of the world’s biggest battle tank producers, for the CIA.
“The process will take place behind closed doors,” the Sverdlovsk Regional Court in Yekaterinburg said.
“According to the investigation authorities, the American journalist of The Wall Street Journal, Gershkovich, on the instructions of the CIA, in March 2023, collected secret information in the Sverdlovsk region about the activities of the defence enterprise JSC NPK Uralvagonzavod for the production and repair of military equipment.”
