US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Thursday that he was “extremely concerned” by the arrest of an American journalist in Russia and condemned Moscow’s actions to “punish” the press, reports AFP.

“We are extremely concerned about the arrest of an American journalist,” he said in a statement, referring to Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Hershkovich.

A court in Moscow on Thursday ordered the arrest for two months of the American journalist Evan Hershkovich, a correspondent of “The Wall Street Journal”, detained by the FSB on charges of espionage for Washington, according to Reuters, which notes that this is the worst action against a foreign journalist since the invasion of Russia to Ukraine, News.ro reports.

From Yekaterinburg, he was taken to Moscow, where the court, during a closed session, chose a preventive measure for him in the form of detention until May 29.

The Russian news agency TASS said that this case is classified as “top secret”.

Danylo Berman, the lawyer representing the reporter, was not allowed into the courtroom and was not allowed to see the charges, Berman told reporters outside.

A Reuters reporter saw how FSB agents took Hershkovich, dressed in a yellow coat, out of the Moscow courthouse and put him in a black van after the meeting. Most likely, he will be in the FSB “Lefortovo” pre-trial detention center in the capital. The prison in the center of Moscow, dating from the 19th century, is known for holding political prisoners in Soviet times.

Suspicion of espionage

Russia’s FSB security service announced Thursday morning that it had opened a criminal case against American citizen Evan Hershkovich on suspicion of espionage, and the Kremlin said he was “caught red-handed.”

Hershkovich, who has been with the WSJ for a little over a year, has pleaded not guilty in court.

His employer said the case – the first criminal espionage case against a foreign journalist in post-Soviet Russia – was based on false allegations.

Under Russian law, espionage is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

The case is likely to further worsen the already difficult relationship between Russia and the United States.

Detention as “hostage taking”

Journalist Sean Walker, a Russia and Eastern Europe expert for Britain’s The Guardian, speculates that Russia detained his Wall Street Journal (WSJ) colleague Evan Hershkovich because a high-level exchange of two Russian spies is being discussed.

“Now Dmytro Peskov says that WSJ’s Evan Hershkovich was ‘caught red-handed.’ The speed and conviction with which this case is moving suggests that it was an order from above, not a local case gaining momentum,” Sean Walker, author of a book on Russia under Vladimir Little, wrote on Twitter.

“This is very similar to hostage-taking to increase Russia’s prisoner swap pool,” he continued.

“Last week in Slovenia, we learned that high-level negotiations are underway to exchange two Russian undercover spies arrested there. But they were blocked for unknown reasons. Well, now Russia has another American to trade,” Sean Walker added.

Moscow has confirmed that the WST journalist can be used as a bargaining chip. “Earlier there were exchanges with already convicted persons. Let’s see how history will develop,” said Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia Serhii Ryabkov.