Russia extends WSJ reporter's detention by three months, US demands release

FILE PHOTO: Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was detained in March while on a reporting trip and charged with espionage, stands behind a glass wall of an enclosure for defendants, while U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy and lawyers Tatyana Nozhkina and Maria Korchagina appear in a courtroom before a hearing to consider an appeal against Gershkovich's detention, in Moscow, Russia April 18, 2023. REUTERS/Yulia Morozova/File Photo

(Reuters) -A Russian court on Tuesday extended for three months the pre-trial detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested in March on espionage charges, which he and his employer deny.

The FSB security service arrested Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen, on March 29 in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg accusing him of collecting secrets about Russia's military industrial complex.