A court in Moscow has extended the pretrial detention of Evan Gershkovich, a U.S. reporter for The Wall Street Journal, arrested in Russia in March on spying charges that he, his newspaper, and the U.S. government have strongly denied.
The Lefortovo district court in Moscow ruled on May 23 that Gershkovich must remain in custody until at least August 30. The hearing was held behind closed doors. Gershkovich's current pretrial detention term expires on May 29.
Washington has declared Gershkovich to be wrongfully detained and demanded his immediate release.
The reporter's detention comes at a time when relation between Moscow and Washington are at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War over the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Gershkovich was arrested in Russia's Urals city of Yekaterinburg in late March. Since then, Moscow has allowed only one consular visit from a U.S. official, Ambassador Lynne Tracy. It has twice denied Gershkovich consular access, including a request for a meeting on May 25.
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said at the time of the arrest that it had opened an espionage case against Gershkovich for collecting what it said were state secrets about the military industrial complex.
SEE ALSO: Is Wagner Chief Prigozhin 'A Special Operation Inside A Special Operation'?He was then placed in pretrial detention at Moscow's Lefortovo prison, a notorious institution dating back to tsarist times. Seen as a symbol of Soviet repression, Lefortovo is where Russia holds most suspects in espionage cases.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby told CNN on May 23 while the court was looking into the FSB request to extend Gershkovich's pretrial detention that the reporter "shouldn’t be detained at all."
"Journalism is not a crime. He needs to be released immediately.... We're still going to work very, very hard to see if we can get him home with his family where he belongs," Kirby said, adding that U.S. officials are still pressing for consular access to Gershkovich directly with the Russians.
"There are no grounds for denying consular access.... We really want to get that consular access going," he said.
The U.S. State Department said in a statement on May 23 that "we are deeply concerned by today's Russian court decision.."
"This follows last week's denial of the embassy's request for a consular visit to Evan Gershkovich, marking the second time Russian authorities have unjustifiably denied consular access in this case," it said.
"We reiterate that the claims against him are baseless and call for Mr. Gershkovich's immediate release," the statement added.
U.S. President Joe Biden also has called on Russia to release him, as have several international journalist organizations.
Gershkovich is the first American journalist detained in Russia on espionage charges since the end of the Cold War.
The Kremlin has said Gershkovich was carrying out espionage "under the cover" of journalism. Lavrov has told the United States that Gershkovich was caught red-handed while trying to obtain secrets.
Hired by the Wall Street Journal shortly before Moscow's invasion of Ukraine last year, Gershkovich had been reporting on Russia for more than five years at the time of his arrest.