Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) reported Thursday that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested on charges of collecting "classified information" from a military complex in the city of Ekaterinburg. The group did not state when the arrest actually took place.
The FSB is alleging that Gershkovich "was acting on US orders to collect information about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military industrial complex that constitutes a state secret."
Gershkovich is the first American reporter to be arrested on Russian soil since the Cold War. He could now face up to 20 years in a state prison as tensions with the US over the war in Ukraine are facing unprecedented highs.
In his last report which was published last week, Gershkovich, who has been covering the war in Ukraine, discussed the effects of Western sanctions on Moscow.
In February of 2022, Russian authorities detained female basketball star and outspoken critic of the US, Brittney Griner.
After being sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of bringing cannabis into the country, Griner was exchanged for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, who had been dubbed as the "Merchant of Death" for selling advanced military systems to Middle East terrorists and African dictators.