The FSB said Ivan was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg, some 900 miles from Moscow. It has been told in the press statement that a case has been registered against Ivan under section 276 of the Criminal Code of Russia. At the same time, the Wall Street Journal has expressed concern over the arrest of its journalist.
America has not yet responded
The US has not yet reacted to the arrest of its journalist on charges of spying for Russia. The US Embassy in Moscow declined to answer questions from The New York Times. According to reports, apart from the Wall Street Journal, Ivan has also worked for the news agency AFP, The Moscow Times and The New York Times.
According to local media, Ivan was covering the Ukraine war and Russia’s private military Wagner Group. His final report was on Russia’s economy which had been devastated by the war.
Russia may sentence Ivan to 20 years
In its statement, the FSB did not say when Ivan was arrested. However, according to the Moscow Times report, Ivan was arrested from a restaurant on Wednesday. His face was covered with a sweater and taken away in a minivan.
According to a report in Al Jazeera, if the charges against Ivan are proved to be true, he could be sentenced to up to 20 years. It is the first time since the end of the Cold War that an American journalist has been arrested in Russia.
A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced a man named Aleksey Moskaliev to two years in prison. Its only crime was that last year Moskaliev’s daughter had made a picture against the war in her school.
Russian police put Alexey Moskalev under house arrest. However, according to the Reuters report, now the police do not know anything about his whereabouts. Moskaliev is believed to have fled to avoid punishment.