Russia detains dual US citizen over Ukraine as Evan Gershkovich detention upheld

Russian agents have seized a woman with dual US citizenship alleging she raised money for Ukraine as a court upheld the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.

Russia has detained a so far publicly unidentified woman with dual US and Russian citizenship over suspected treason, alleging that she raised money for the Ukrainian war effort. Picture: Russian Federal Security Service

Russian agents have detained a woman with dual US and Russian citizenship over suspected treason, alleging she raised money for the Ukrainian war effort, authorities said, adding another to the list of American citizens it has in its custody.

Elsewhere a Russian court upheld the detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, whom the US government deems to be wrongfully detained, following recent remarks by President Vladimir Putin that he is open to a prisoner exchange for the journalist’s release.

The detained woman, whose name hasn’t been released, was held in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg. Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, alleged that the woman, who it said is a 33-year-old resident of Los Angeles, had taken part in unspecified “public actions” in the US in support of Kyiv and had collected funds for a Ukrainian organisation that were used to buy military supplies.

The FSB said it had opened a criminal case but didn’t provide more details.

The woman faces a possible sentence of up to life in prison after Russia tightened various laws, including for treason, and sought to stifle dissent following its full-blown invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

A video released by state news agency TASS on Tuesday showed hooded officers handcuffing and escorting a woman wearing a white coat with a hat pulled over her eyes. She was later shown in court, her face blurred.

Since the invasion, relations between Russia and the US have plummeted to their lowest level since the end of the Cold War. On Friday, President Joe Biden blamed Putin for the death in prison of Alexei Navalny, Putin’s most ardent critic.

TOPSHOT - US journalist Evan Gershkovich looks out from inside a defendants' cage before a hearing to consider an appeal on his extended pre-trial detention, at the Moscow City Court in Moscow on Tuesday. Picture: Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP

A number of US citizens, including Wall Street Journal reporter Gershkovich, whom the US government deems to be wrongfully detained, are currently being held in Russia.

Gershkovich, a 32-year-old U.S. citizen who was accredited by Russia’s Foreign Ministry to work as a journalist, was detained by FSB agents on March 29 last year during a reporting trip, also in Yekaterinburg.

He was taken into custody on an allegation of espionage that he, the Journal and the US government vehemently deny.

On Tuesday, a Russian court rejected his lawyers’ latest appeal against his detention.

Russia is also holding Michigan corporate-security executive Paul Whelan, whom the US also believes is being wrongly detained in Russia. The former US marine was convicted of espionage in 2020 and is serving a 16-year sentence in a Russian penal colony. Mr Whelan, his family and the US government say he isn’t a spy.

Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty who was arrested on charges of failing to register as a foreign agent, attends a hearing to consider her pre-trial detention at the Sovetski court in Kazan in October. Alexander Nemenov / AFP

A third American, Alsu Kurmasheva, who holds dual US-Russian citizenship and works for Prague-based Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was taken into custody in October on an allegation that she failed to register as a foreign agent.

She also faces an allegation that she spread false information about Russia’s military. RFE/RL, Kurmasheva’s family and supporters say they believe she is being targeted for being a journalist and an American.

Tuesday’s rejection of the latest appeal by Gershkovich’s lawyers means he is set to remain behind bars until at least March 30, which would mark more than a year since he was taken into custody on an allegation of espionage that the Journal and the US government vehemently deny.

Russian investigators haven’t publicly presented evidence to back up their espionage allegation against Gershkovich, who is being held at Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison. Moscow has said it is acting in accordance with its laws.

Earlier this month, in a lengthy interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Putin said a prisoner swap for Gershkovich was being discussed between the US and Russia but that the two sides needed to reach an agreement. Putin didn’t specify who Moscow was demanding in return for Gershkovich or other US citizens detained in Russia.

US officials declined to comment on Putin’s prisoner-exchange remarks, saying only that “Evan Gershkovich never should have been detained in the first place” and should be freed immediately.

A view on Tuesday of the Moscow City Court, which rejected an appeal by jailed US journalist Evan Gershkovich against the extension of his pre-trial detention period. Picture: AFP

The court has rejected previous appeals by Gershkovich’s lawyers, at least one of which requested that he be transferred to house arrest, agree to constraints on his movements or be granted bail. The reporter’s initial pretrial detention was scheduled to expire on May 29 last year.

Legal experts say it could still be months before Gershkovich’s case is brought to trial. Under Russian law, investigators and prosecutors have wide latitude to request further extensions of pretrial detention. Espionage trials are typically conducted in secret and conviction could carry a prison sentence of 10 to 20 years. It is rare for a court to acquit a defendant in such cases.

“Evan Gershkovich appeared in the Moscow City Court today, where an appeal of his wrongful detention was denied once again,” the Journal said.

“It’s been nearly one year since Evan’s unjust arrest for doing nothing more than his job, and every day he remains in prison is an unconscionable attack on a free press. Evan is a journalist, and any suggestion or portrayal otherwise is fiction. We continue to demand his immediate release.”

The US ambassador to Moscow, Lynne Tracy, was in court for the hearing. “The US position remains unchanged: The charges against Evan are baseless, the Russian government has locked Evan up simply for reporting news,” she said in a video posted to the embassy’s Telegram channel.

“When the Kremlin uses lives as bargaining chips, real people suffer.”

Gershkovich was the first American journalist to be charged with espionage in Russia since the end of the Cold War. The US government’s designation of wrongful detainment unlocked a broad effort to exert pressure on Moscow to free him.

His case has garnered international attention and bipartisan support in the US House of Representatives, which last June approved a resolution calling on Russia to immediately free Gershkovich.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has denied that Russia is intentionally victimising US nationals.

“There are many foreign journalists working in Russia,” he said in an emailed response to questions. “They freely carry out their work, regardless of which country they represent. If law enforcement agencies suspect some of violating the law, appropriate measures are taken against them.”

Kate Vtorygina contributed

The Wall Street Journal