A US reporter for The Wall Street Journal newspaper has been detained in Russia for espionage, Russian news agencies reported Thursday, citing the FSB security services. "The FSB halted the illegal activities of US citizen Evan Gershkovich... a correspondent of the Moscow bureau of the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal, accredited with the Russian foreign ministry," the FSB was quoted as saying. He is "suspected of spying in the interests of the American government" and of collecting information "on an enterprise of the Russian military-industrial complex," agencies reported.
France on Thursday said that it was "worried" after Moscow detained a US journalist working for the Wall Street Journal in Russia on suspicion of spying for Washington.
"We are particularly worried and have had the occasion to condemn the repressive attitude of Russia" towards Russian and foreign media, foreign ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre said, after the detention of Evan Gershkovich, who previously worked for AFP in Moscow.
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