Russian Prosecutors have charged Ivan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal correspondent, with espionage, Russian news agency Interfax reports.

Gershkovich, a US citizen of Russian origin, was arrested last week in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on espionage charges that the Wall Street Journal, Western leaders and his colleagues called false.

Hundreds of Russian journalists and activists demand his release

About 240 Russian journalists and activists signed an open letter calling for the immediate release of a Wall Street Journal correspondent in Moscow. Ivan Gerskovichwho was arrested in Russia last week on charges of “espionage”.

The corresponding letter was published on websites (Meduza, Dozhd TV, Mediazona, etc.) last Tuesday, and so far (Tuesday afternoon) it has been signed by 238 journalists and media workers.

The Wall Street Journal and the US government are calling for his immediate release, categorically denying the Russian allegations. What is clear, however, is that the American journalist, who has been a correspondent in Russia for the past six years or so, will remain in detention until at least May.

Complaining Russian journalists, for their part, recall, in the context of the open letter they signed, the case of another non-Western but Russian journalist, Ivan Safronov, who was sentenced last year to 22 years in prison on charges of “treason.” “.