The Federal Security Service (FSB, formerly the KGB) today filed a formal espionage charge against American journalist Evan Gershkovich, a correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, who was arrested in late March.

“The FSB investigation accused Gershkovich of spying for his country. He categorically denies all the accusations and stated that he was engaged in journalistic activities in Russia,” a source in law enforcement agencies told TASS.

The reporter’s lawyers appealed his detention, and dozens of independent Russian journalists wrote a letter demanding his release and calling the espionage charge unfounded under Article 276 of the Criminal Code, which carries up to 20 years in prison.

At the moment, since the process is secret, the details of the case are unknown, although the detainee is in good health and mood, according to Russian activists who visited him in the pre-trial detention center.

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The only thing known is that after he announced his arrest, the FSB assured that Gershkovich “collected, on behalf of the American side, secret information about the activities of one of the companies of the Russian military-industrial complex.”

“An American was detained in Yekaterinburg while trying to obtain classified information,” the FSB said.

According to the digital newspaper Meduza, Gershkovich was in Yekaterinburg collecting information about Russian attitudes towards a group of Wagner mercenaries.

Both the White House and The Wall Street Journal denied the allegations of the Russian security forces against their correspondent and demanded his immediate release.

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Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Kremlin urged Washington not to politicize the case and let justice take its course.

“As far as we know, they caught him red-handed,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that the arrest “is the prerogative of the FSB, which is fighting spies in this way.”

For her part, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zayarova wrote on her Telegram channel that “what the Wall Street Journal employee did in Yekaterinburg has nothing to do with journalism.”

“Unfortunately, this is not the first time that the status of a “foreign journalist”, a journalistic visa and accreditation are used by foreigners in our country to cover up non-journalistic activities,” he said.

According to Zakharova, Gershkovich “is not the first known Westerner to be caught red-handed.”