STAYING PUT

Wall Street Journal Reporter’s Detention Extended in Russia

He’ll remain behind bars until at least Nov. 30.

A Moscow court on Thursday extended the pretrial detention of Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter arrested in Russia earlier this year over allegations of spying. At a closed hearing, a judge at the Lefortovo District Court approved a request from Russia’s FSB security service to keep Gershkovich in jail until at least Nov. 30. The 31-year-old American was detained during a reporting assignment in the city of Yekaterinburg on March 29, and he has been locked up ever since. Both the Journal and the U.S. government have denied the espionage charge against Gershkovich, with the Biden administration considering the reporter wrongfully detained. “We are deeply disappointed he continues to be arbitrarily and wrongfully detained for doing his job as a journalist,” the Journal said in a statement. “The baseless accusations against him are categorically false, and we continue to push for his immediate release. Journalism is not a crime.”