Journalism is not a crime: US urges Russia to immediately release wrongfully detained WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich

The US on Monday (local time) determined that Russia had wrongfully detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and urged his immediate release.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken "made a determination that Evan Gershkovich is wrongfully detained by Russia," said State Department spokesman Vedant Patel.

The designation elevates the case of Evan Gershkovich in the US government hierarchy and means that a dedicated State Department office will take the lead on securing his release.

US condemns Russia's move

"We call for the Russian Federation to immediately release Gershkovich," Patel said in a statement. "Journalism is not a crime. We condemn the Kremlin's continued repression of independent voices in Russia, and its ongoing war against the truth," Patel said.

Monday's statement from Blinken was the first public comment on the case since Russian news agencies reported on Friday that Gershkovich had been charged with espionage and had entered a formal denial.

The state news agency Tass and the Interfax news agency said a law enforcement source informed them that the Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, had officially charged the American journalist.

The formal decision by the State Department on Gershkovich, who was taken into custody on March 29, was unusually swift and indicated the seriousness attached by Washington to the case, the first time Moscow has accused a US journalist of espionage since the Soviet era.

In practical terms, the determination means that Gershkovich's detention will be handled by the US special envoy on hostage affairs, Roger Carstens, giving more resources to the case.

About Gershkovich's arrest

Russian authorities arrested Gershkovich, 31, in Yekaterinburg, Russia's fourth-largest city, on March 29. He is the first US correspondent to be detained for alleged spying since the Cold War.

The Federal Security Service specifically accused Gershkovich of trying to obtain classified information about a Russian arms factory. The Wall Street Journal has denied the accusations.