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Russia charges ex-US consulate employee with spying
Russia state news agency TASS reported that the man was charged with collecting information on the war in Ukraine.
Russia's FSB security service has charged a former employee of the U.S. consulate in the Russian Far East with collecting information on the war in Ukraine and other issues for Washington, state news agency TASS said on Monday.
The suspect, Robert Shonov, relayed information to U.S. embassy staffers in Moscow on how Russia's conscription campaign was impacting political discontent ahead of the 2024 presidential election in Russia, TASS quoted the FSB as saying.
The FSB said it planned to question U.S. embassy employees who were in contact with Shonov, a Russian national who has been under arrest since May.
The embassy said in May that "the allegations against Mr. Shonov are wholly without merit", and his "only role at the time of his arrest was to compile media summaries of press items from publicly available Russian media sources".
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US journalist Evan Gershkovich files appeal
US journalist Evan Gershkovich has appealed against the latest extension of his pre-trial detention in Moscow on spying charges that he denies, Russian state media said on Saturday.
TASS news agency quoted a Moscow court as saying it had received the appeal from the defence team of the Wall Street Journal reporter.
Gershkovich was arrested on March 29 in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on spying charges that carry up to 20 years in prison. No date has been set for his trial, and on Thursday his detention in Moscow's Lefortovo prison was extended by three months to Nov. 30.
He has failed in two previous appeals, in April and June.
The United States says Russia is using Gershkovich to conduct "hostage diplomacy", at a time when Moscow's war in Ukraine has plunged relations with Washington to their lowest point in more than 60 years.
Washington says the case against him is bogus and has demanded the release of both Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, a U.S. citizen convicted of espionage in 2020 and serving 16 years in a Russian penal colony on spying charges that he too denies.
