US journalist Evan Gershkovich, who has been jailed in Russia for over a year on espionage charges, will stand trial in Yekaterinburg, Associated Press reports.
Gershkovich was detained during a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg in March 2023. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) accused the reporter of gathering state secrets on US orders about a military equipment facility in the Sverdlovsk region. Despite these allegations, no evidence has been provided, and the US government, the WSJ, and Gershkovich himself deny the charges. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has indicated a potential prisoner swap could secure Gershkovich’s release, with negotiations possibly involving Vadim Krasikov, a Russian national imprisoned in Germany for a 2019 killing. The US Ambassador to Russia has called the charges against him “fiction” and accused Russia of using American citizens as political pawns.
