Evan Gershkovich was detained in March 2023 for allegedly ‘spying’ on a Russian defence enterprise in Yekaterinburg.

Russia will hold a closed-door trial for detained US reporter Evan Gershkovich later this month, a court in the city of Yekaterinburg has announced.

The Sverdlovsk Regional Court said on Monday that the first hearing, scheduled for June 26, will occur “behind closed doors”. Meanwhile, the Kremlin has suggested that it would be open to a prisoner swap.

The court said that the reporter, who was working for The Wall Street Journal when he was arrested in the Siberian city last year, is accused of collecting “secret information” in March 2023 “on the instructions of the CIA”.

According to the charges, which carry a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison, the journalist was spying on the production and repair of military equipment at the defence enterprise JSC NPK Uralvagonzavod when he was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB).

‘Outrageous’

Following last week’s announcement that Gershkovich would stand trial for his “CIA work”, The Wall Street Journal said the reporter was facing “a false and baseless charge” based on “calculated and transparent lies”.

“Russia’s latest move toward a sham trial is, while expected, deeply disappointing and still no less outrageous,” read a letter co-signed by publisher Almar Latour and editor-in-chief Emma Tucker.

“Evan has spent 441 days wrongfully detained in a Russian prison for simply doing his job. Evan is a journalist. The Russian regime’s smearing of Evan is repugnant, disgusting and based on calculated and transparent lies.”

Latour and Tucker said they expected the US government to increase efforts to secure his release.

Gershkovich has also appealed his detention several times, but his attempts have been fruitless.

The arrest of the first American journalist to be detained on spy charges in Russia since the Cold War shocked Western news organisations, leaving almost no US reporters in Russia.

The White House has called the charges “ridiculous”, with President Joe Biden adding that the detention was “totally illegal”.

Russia said the reporter was caught “red-handed”.

Prisoner swap

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said there has been contact with Washington about a potential prisoner swap for the reporter but insisted that those meetings should be held away from the media.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined on Monday to comment on why Gershkovich’s trial was to be closed, saying it was a court decision.

Russia conducts some of its most secret weapons production and research at the Uralvagonzavod enterprise based in Nizhny Tagil, on which Gershkovich is accused of conducting espionage.

The enterprise – part of Rostec, Russia’s vast defence corporation run by Putin-ally Sergei Chemezov which is under US sanctions – has publicly spoken about producing T-90M battle tanks and modernising T-72B3M tanks.

Police in Germany said officers opened fire on an ax-wielding suspect who put fans in jeopardy near a Euro 2024 fan parade in the city of Hamburg Sunday. 

Hamburg Police said an unidentified person threatened officers “with a pickaxe and an incendiary device” in the St. Pauli district. 

The incident reportedly happened on the sidelines of a Euro 2024 soccer fan parade, which was unfolding hours before Poland and the Netherlands were scheduled to play in the city’s stadium, Volksparkstadion.

Officers deployed their guns, and the attacker was injured and received medical attention, police said on X. 

GERMAN POLICE PREPARE FOR LARGEST DEPLOYMENT EVER AHEAD OF EURO 2024 AS SOCCER VIOLENCE SURGES

The department afterward announced a “major police operation” underway, adding the event at Heiligengeistfeld “is subject to various security checks and is well protected.” 

“We are currently assuming that there was a lone perpetrator,” police added. 

The incident happened around the same time as the Dutch fan parade. Nearly 40,000 soccer fans were marching through the entertainment district, according to German state broadcaster DW. 

The suspect reportedly walked out of a bar and began waving an ax in a “threatening manner.” Officers opened fire after the man refused to lay down the ax, hitting him in the leg, German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported, citing Hamburg Police. German media published images of a person lying in the street surrounded by paramedics and police officers.

A view of the Volkspark Stadium ahead of the European Soccer Championships 2024 in Hamburg, Germany, May 14, 2024.  (Christian Charisius/dpa via AP, File)

“According to current knowledge, there is no football connection,” a police spokesman told the outlet. The motive was not immediately announced. 

EUROPEAN VOTERS REJECT SOCIALISM, FAR-LEFT POLICIES IN EU PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS: ‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’

German authorities have put police on high alert during the tournament, which began Friday and runs through July 14, for fear of possible fan violence and terrorist attacks.

Police officers walk on a sidewalk next to an apartment building in Wolmirstedt, Germany, Saturday, June 15, 2024. German police say they shot to death an Afghan man after he fatally attacked a compatriot and later wounded three people watching the televised Euro 2024 soccer tournament.  (Thomas Schulz/dpa via AP)

On Friday, police shot to death a 27-year-old Afghan national after he fatally attacked a 23-year-old compatriot with a “knife-like object” and later wounded three people watching the televised game between Germany and Scotland in Wolmirstedt, a small town about 80 miles west of Berlin. 

Police said Sunday the motive for that attack was still unclear. 

The Interior Ministry in Saxony-Anhalt state, which includes Wolmirstedt, said police had increased their presence across the state.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.