Russia’s top security agency says a reporter for the Wall Street Journal has been arrested on espionage charges. The Federal Security Service (FSB), the top KGB successor agency, said Thursday that Evan Gershkovich was detained in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg while allegedly trying to obtain classified information. The security service alleged that Gershkovich “was collecting classified information about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military industrial complex.” The FSB didn’t say when the arrest took place. Gershkovich could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of espionage. He is the first reporter for an American news outlet to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War.
