The court in Moscow extended the arrest of Evan Hershkovych until November 30

The Lefortovsky District Court of Moscow has extended the arrest of The Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Hershkovich, who is in pre-trial detention center on charges of espionage, until November 30. “Kommersant” reports about it.

The meeting was held in closed mode, since the materials of the case are classified.

• Evan Hershkovich was detained on March 29 in Yekaterinburg, the next day the court in Moscow sent him under arrest. The FSB claims that Hershkovich was collecting secret information on one of the enterprises of the military-industrial complex at the behest of the United States.
• Hershkovich pleaded not guilty. The editors of The Wall Street Journal stated that the journalist was doing his job. In particular, he asked residents of Yekaterinburg about their reaction to the losses incurred by PMC “Wagner” in Ukraine.
• The US State Department declared Evan Hershkovich “unlawfully detained” by Russia. This status is equivalent to the status of a hostage and allows Washington to negotiate the exchange of an American citizen. The fact of such negotiations was confirmed by the national security advisor of the US president, Jake Sullivan, but clarified that “there is still no clear way to resolve the issue.”
• If Hershkovich is found guilty by a Russian court, he could face up to 20 years in prison.