MOSCOW /TASS/ – Maria Zakharova, the Spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, stated that US intelligence agencies are employing journalists as agents, which is a breach of US laws.
Zakharova’s comments came in response to the US marking one year since the arrest of Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, who was charged with espionage in Russia. She noted that a recent issue of The Wall Street Journal featured a nearly blank front page, save for a black and white image of Gershkovich and the caption ‘His story should be here.’
Zakharova suggested that Gershkovich could have reported on the terrorist attacks on Russian cities by the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev in recent months. She noted that these militants are also targeting journalists, including Americans, in a conflict zone that the US helped create by supplying weapons and intelligence to the militants.
She further stated that Gershkovich could have written impactful articles about his fellow journalists who were killed by the Kiev regime, such as Oles Buzina, Pavel Sheremet, Andrey Stenin, Anatoly Klein, Igor Kornelyuk, Anton Voloshin, and others. However, he did not do so during his time in Russia, leading her to question whether he was truly practicing journalism or engaging in espionage.
Zakharova also raised the issue of American journalist Gonzalo Lira, who was detained for eight months in a Ukrainian prison and was ultimately killed by the Ukrainian Security Service in January. She noted that no US newspaper has ever shown similar support for Lira as they have for Gershkovich.
As for Gershkovich’s case, he was arrested in Russia on charges of espionage. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) alleges that Gershkovich, acting as an agent for the U.S., gathered top-secret information about a Russian military-industrial complex enterprise. He was detained in Yekaterinburg in late March 2023, and a criminal case was initiated against him under Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code (“Espionage”). Gershkovich, who faces a potential 20-year prison sentence, has not admitted guilt.
