The trial of detained American journalist Evan Gershkovic will be held behind closed doors, Russian state media reported, citing court sources.
Russian officials accused Wall Street Journal reporters of collecting “secret information” from Russian tank factories on behalf of the CIA. He denies the accusations.
His trial will begin on June 26 at a court in the Ural city of Yekaterinburg, where he was arrested last March.
Gershkovic, 32, has been held in Moscow’s high-security Lefortovo prison since his arrest.
The Wall Street Journal dismissed the trial, calling it a “scam,” while U.S. officials said the accusations had “zero credibility.”
Russian prosecutors said Gershkovic was arrested “on the spot” and Russia’s FSB state security service claimed he was trying to obtain military secrets.
The investigation confirmed that journalists had collected “secret information” about “the production and maintenance of military equipment” from Russian tank factories, the prosecutor added.
In their statement, they accused him of “using painstaking machinations to carry out illegal actions.”
According to prosecutors, he acted “at the direction of the CIA.”
Gershkovic spent more than a year in prison on espionage charges, which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years.
U.S. President Joe Biden called his detention “completely illegal,” while the Wall Street Journal accused Moscow of “detaining Americans in Russian prisons for future transactions.”
Russia holds a number of other U.S. citizens, including several journalists and active-duty military personnel, in prisons across the country.
Gershkovich is the first American journalist to be detained in Russia on espionage charges since the end of the Cold War more than three decades ago.
In December, the U.S. State Department stated that it had Make “substantial” offer to Russia to secure Mr Gershkovic’s release, got rejected.
It is said that Moscow Seeking the release of Vadim Krasikov – was found guilty in Germany in 2021 of killing a former Chechen commander in Berlin – in return. President Vladimir Putin seemed to confirm this in an interview with Tucker Carlson earlier this year.
