The Wall Street Journal demanded the immediate release of Evan Gerskovich.its correspondent in Moscow, who was arrested by the Russian intelligence service FSB and accused of “espionage”, which the US president called “ridiculous”.

Mr. Gershkovich, 31, the son of a Jewish couple who left the Soviet Union to settle in America, has previously worked for the New York Times and the Moscow Times, as well as Agence France, according to his profile published by the WSJ yesterday. Press. .

According to reports, he was detained on Wednesday in a restaurant in Yekaterinburg in the Urals.

This is the first time a foreign journalist has been arrested on “espionage” charges since the Cold War, sparking a new escalation between Washington and Moscow.

“Evan’s case is a vicious affront to the free press and should anger all free people and all governments around the world,” the newspaper said in a commentary.

A similar demand was made by Joe Biden to Moscow the day before yesterday. “Let him go,” the American president said characteristically, and when asked if he was going to expel Russian diplomats after the incident, he replied that “we don’t have such plans yet.”