Russia has arrested a Wall Street Journal journalist, who graduated from Bowdoin College, on suspicion of espionage.
Russia’s federal security service has accused Evan Gershkovich of spying for the American government.
It said Gershkovich was detained while trying to obtain secret information about one of Russia’s military-industrial complexes.
Gershkovich covers Russia, Ukraine and the former Soviet Union, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In a statement, the paper said it’s “deeply concerned” for Gershkovich’s safety.
Gershkovich is the first American reporter to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since September 1986, when Nicholas Daniloff, a Moscow correspondent for U.S. News and World Report, was arrested by the KGB. He was released without charges 20 days later in a swap for an employee of the Soviet Union’s United Nations mission who was arrested by the FBI.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
