Kremlin says U.S. reporter 'violated' law as Biden calls detention 'totally illegal'

FILE PHOTO: Reporter for U.S. newspaper The Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich, detained on suspicion of espionage, leaves a court building in Moscow, Russia March 30, 2023. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo

(Reuters) -The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich had "violated Russian law" and been caught "red-handed", one day after the U.S. State Department officially designated him as having been "wrongfully detained" by Russia.

Russia's federal security service (FSB) arrested Gershkovich last month on espionage charges widely decried as bogus by the White House, other Western countries, the Wall Street Journal, dozens of media organisations, and human rights groups.