American journalist Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained in Russia for 15 months on charges of espionage, arrived at the court in Yekaterinburg, Urals, reported AFP.
Today is the first day of the trial, which will be held behind closed doors. Gershkovic denies the allegations.
The 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter was arrested in March 2023 by Russian security services (FSB).
He is the first Western journalist since the Soviet era to be accused of espionage in Russia.
Accredited members of the press had brief access to the courtroom before the trial began behind closed doors at 09:00 Bulgarian time.
Investigators accuse Gershkovich, who also worked for AFP in Moscow from 2020 to 2022, of gathering classified information for the CIA about one of the country's leading arms manufacturers, tank maker Uralvagonzavod.
Uralvagonzavod produces the T-90 tanks used in Ukraine and the new-generation Armata tank, as well as freight cars.
Gershkovich, his employer and those close to him vehemently deny the allegations, as does Washington, which accuses Moscow of fabricating the case to exchange the journalist for Russians detained in the West.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the reporter, who faces up to 20 years in prison, was arrested for "just doing his job." He spent his pre-trial detention in the famous Moscow prison "Lefortovo", but was tried in Yekaterinburg, where he was arrested.
The Russian government has never provided evidence for its allegations, as the entire case is classified as secret. | BGNES
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