Journalist Gershkovitch’s defense appeals for detention extension

Moscow, May 26 – The defense of the Moscow bureau correspondent of the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Ivan Gershkovich, accused of espionage, appealed against the decision to extend his preventive measures in the form of arrest, the Lefortovo court informed the News Agency. Moscow.

“The court received an appeal against the extension of Gershkovich’s preventive measure in the form of arrest,” the source said.

On Tuesday, the Lefortovo Court in Moscow extended Gershkovich’s detention until August 30.

Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow had again denied the US request to allow consular access to Gershkovich “in response to the failure to issue visas to Russian journalists,” adding that no hostile attack would go unnoticed.

On March 30, Russia’s FSB announced that Wall Street Journal Moscow bureau reporter Ivan Gershkovich had been arrested in Yekaterinburg on suspicion of espionage for the US government.

According to the Russian intelligence service, the American collected information that constitutes a state secret “about the activities of one of the companies belonging to the Russian military-industrial complex.”

The Lefortovo Court in Moscow detained him for two months. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said that Gershkovich was caught in the act.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed that Gershkovich’s activities in Yekaterinburg “had nothing to do with journalism”.