Russia on Thursday detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on spying allegations after President Vladimir Putin increased the domestic security agency powers to include countering foreign intelligence operations.
What Happened: Russia's State Security Service (FSB) had detained Gershkovich, who was on assignment in the central city of Yekaterinburg, Bloomberg reported, citing Interfax News Agency.
He was in Yekaterinburg covering Russia's war in Ukraine and the Putin-linked mercenary Wagner group for WSJ.
Gershkovich "is suspected of espionage in the interests of the American government," the security service known as the FSB said in a statement.
It alleged that the WSJ reporter, a U.S. citizen, "collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex."
This came after, during an expanded meeting of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) last month, President Putin directed the agency to "strengthen our counterintelligence" in lieu of the West's intelligence agencies always keeping a "close eye" on Moscow by assigning more staff and technical resources.
"We need to respond accordingly," he said.
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