Russian police in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg have detained a local activist who was interviewed by Evan Gershkovich and helped the jailed Wall Street Journal reporter before the American journalist was arrested on espionage charges.
Local online media outlets said on April 18 Yaroslav Shirshikov was detained after police searched his home.
According to the reports, Shirshikov's detention may be linked to his posts on Telegram criticizing Russia’s ongoing unprovoked war in Ukraine. It was not immediately clear if there is a link between the two cases.
Earlier on April 18, Moscow's Lefortovo district court rejected Gershkovich's appeal to be released from pretrial detention. The 31-year-old American, The Wall Street Journal, and the United States government have all denied he was involved in espionage.
SEE ALSO: U.S. Reporter Gershkovich's Appeal Over Detention In Russia DeniedIn one of his recent posts, Shirshikov called Vladlen Tatarsky, the pen name of prominent pro-Kremlin blogger Maksim Fomin, who was killed in an apparent assassination in St. Petersburg in early April, "a thug."
Tatarsky was known for his support of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and support for Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region. Shirshikov wrote in his post that he does not feel sorry about his death.
The daily Kommersant citied a source close to law enforcement as saying that Shirshikov, a professional public relations expert, may face up to seven years in prison if convicted on a charge of justification of terrorism over his post about Tatarsky's death.
SEE ALSO: 'The State Will Eat You': Russia Enters The Era Of The Treason VerdictIn July last year, Shirshikov was fined for openly criticizing the war in Ukraine.
In his interview with Gershkovich, Shirshikov talked about the attitude in Russian society toward the notorious Wagner mercenary group, a private company that has been at the forefront of fighting in Ukraine.
Shirshikov called Gershkovich "a wonderful guy" after the U.S. journalist was detained in late March and later sent to pretrial arrest.
Gershkovich had been reporting on Russia for more than five years at the time of his arrest. He is a fluent Russian speaker and the son of emigres who left the Soviet Union for the United States during the Cold War.