“Familiar tactics”: the White House reacted to the arrest in Russia of a WSJ journalist on charges of espionage

The US administration called unfounded the accusations of “espionage” that the Russian Federation made against The Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich. The foreigner is under arrest in Moscow, where propagandists are trying to try him in a case labeled “top secret.”

The White House continues to study the circumstances of the detention of a US citizen. This was announced at a briefing by the press secretary of the department, Karine Jean-Pierre.

“There is no reason to believe that these accusations – of espionage – are correct,” she said.

The White House spokeswoman stressed that detaining US citizens and using them to supposedly have “additional leverage for negotiations” is a very familiar tactic for Russians.

Jean-Pierre only repeated the call of the US State Department to the Americans to leave the territory of the Russian Federation.

Recall that the correspondent of the Moscow bureau of The Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich was detained on March 29 in Yekaterinburg (RF). The man was charged with alleged espionage. The next day, the Moscow Lefortovo court arrested the American for 29 days and sent him to a pre-trial detention center. RosSMI said that the journalist’s case is classified as “top secret”. Gershkovich pleads not guilty.

The Wall Street Journal demanded that the Russian Federation fire their employee. The International Organization “Reporters Without Borders” also noted that they were concerned about the detention of the journalist.

As GLOBAL HAPPENINGS reported, according to CNN, Gershkovich became the first journalist since 1986 whom Moscow accused of espionage. Against the background of news about the detention and attempts by Russians to arrest an American, the US State Department called on its citizens to immediately leave Russia.