Russian prosecutor seeks 18-year sentence for US journalist Evan Gershkovich

Russian authorities are seeking an 18-year jail sentence for US journalist Evan Gershkovich on “politically motivated” charges of spying.

Mr Gershkovich, 32, has been behind bars since his March 2023 arrest after Moscow accused him of “gathering secret information” for the CIA about a military equipment facility in central Russia.

TheWall Street Journal reporter has denied the charges and nations including the US and UK have hit out at what they see as politically motivated charges – with US president Joe Biden calling his detention “totally illegal”.

The Kremlin has said he was caught “red-handed” but has not published evidence. The court proceedings have been closed to the media, with a verdict set to be announced on Friday afternoon.

“Evan has done nothing wrong. He should never have been arrested in the first place. Journalism is not a crime,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

“The charges against him are false. And the Russian government knows that they’re false. He should be released immediately.”

The Biden administration has sought to negotiate Mr Gershkovich’s release but Moscow has said it would consider a prisoner swap only after a trial verdict.

Vladimir Putin has said he believes a deal could be reached to free Mr Gershkovich, hinting he would be open to swapping him for a Russian national imprisoned in Germany.

That appeared to be a reference to Vadim Krasikov, who is serving a life sentence for the 2019 killing of a Georgian citizen of Chechen descent in Berlin.

The son of Soviet emigres who settled in New Jersey, Mr Gershkovich is fluent in Russian and moved to the country in 2017 to work for The Moscow Times newspaper before being hired by the WSJ in 2022.

US ambassador Lynne Tracy,