Russia charges Wall Street Journal reporter Gershkovich with espionage

FILE PHOTO: Reporter for U.S. newspaper The Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich appears in an undated handout image taken in an unknown location. The Wall Street Journal/Handout via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian Federal Security Service investigators have formally charged Evan Gershkovich with espionage but the Wall Street Journal reporter denied the charges and said he was working as a journalist, domestic news agencies said on Friday.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on March 30 it had detained Gershkovich in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg and had opened an espionage case against him for collecting what it said were state secrets about the military industrial complex.