Russian prosecutors say American journalist Evan Gershkovich will stand trial in Russia on espionage charges.
A Wall Street Journal reporter has been accused of collecting “secret information” from Russian tank factories on behalf of the CIA.
Prosecutors said he will be tried at a court in Yekaterinburg.
Gershkovich, 32, has denied the accusations, while the Wall Street Journal dismissed the upcoming trial as a “scam.” The United States believes that the journalist was “wrongfully detained.”
Russian prosecutors said on Thursday that an investigation had confirmed that the journalist had collected “secret information” about “the production and maintenance of military equipment” from Russian tank factories.
In their statement, they accused him of “using painstaking machinations to carry out illegal actions.”
Prosecutors said this was “at the direction of the CIA.”
Since his arrest, Mr. Gershkovich has been held in pretrial detention in Moscow, 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) from Yekaterinburg.
He has been in jail for more than a year and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
His arrest marks the first time since the Soviet era that Russia has accused an American journalist of espionage.
The U.S. Embassy in Moscow said the reasons for his detention were “baseless.”
The Wall Street Journal has previously accused Moscow of “detaining Americans in Russian prisons to trade later.”
Russian officials have made little secret of the fact that they view American journalists as bargaining chips.
Earlier this year, President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Tucker Carlson that he believed can reach an agreement Free Mr. Gershkovich.
Mr Putin said this relied on “our partners [taking] Reciprocal Steps,” and hinted at the identities of those Russia would accept in a prisoner exchange.
