By Chantal Da Silva -
NBC News
An American journalist for The Wall Street Journal has been arrested in Russia on charges of espionage, a Russian news agency reported Thursday.
Evan Gershkovich was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg, in the Ural Mountains, on suspicion of "espionage in the interests of the US government", as detailed by the Federal Security Service (FSB), according to the Interfax news agency.
The FSB accused Gershkovich of collecting "information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the companies of the Russian military-industrial complex," Interfax reported.
He did not provide evidence.
Undated photo of journalist Evan Gershkovich.AFP via Getty Images
The Wall Street Journal did not immediately respond to a request for comment made overnight.
Gershkovich is a journalist covering Russia, Ukraine and the former Soviet Union.
He was previously a reporter for Agence France-Presse and the Moscow Times, and a press assistant at The New York Times, according to his profile on The Wall Street Journal website.
His most recent article, which he co-authored, was headlined:
The Russian Economy Begins To Collapse
.
News in development. Please check back for updates.
