Russia Extends Detention of U.S. Journalist

Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP

The updated news today is not good for Alsu Kurmasheva. She is a dual citizen of the United States and Israel.

Alsu is a journalist employed by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), a U.S. government-funded news agency. She appeared in a Russian court Friday. The court ruled that she will be detained for n additional three days. She is being charged with failing to register as a foreign agent.

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She is an editor for RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir service. She is based in Prague. Alsu returned to Russia in May due to a family emergency. She was stopped on June 2 at Kazan International Airport and her passports (American and Russia) were confiscated by airport officials. She was fined for failing to register her U.S. passport. She was waiting for her passports to be returned when the new charge was filed Wednesday.

She appeared in court in the central Russian city of Kazan. Independent photos published on the Russian news website Mediazona show her inside a defendant’s cage in the courtroom. She was wearing a coat with hood and a face mask. She could receive up to 5 years in prison, if convicted. Her lawyer, Edgar Matevosyan, denies she is guilty of charges.

Kurmasheva was accused of reporting on the Russian military “in order to transmit information to foreign sources,” alleging she received information about university teachers who were mobilized by the army, Tatar-Inform said.

“Alsu is a highly respected colleague, devoted wife, and dedicated mother to two children,” said RFE/RL head Jeffrey Gedmin. “She needs to be released, so she can return to her family immediately.”

The authorities don’t have anything on her and are trying to intimidate her.

“At that time, it was clear they did not have anything on her, so maybe it was like a matter of intimidation. And then it took them three months to decide how would they, you know, package the case against her,” according to Galina Arapova of Russia’s Mass Media Defense Center.

Arapova told The Associated Press the charges against Kurmasheva are a “sophisticated form of censorship.” She added that Kurmasheva’s case is different from that of Gershkovich, even though both are U.S. citizens.

“She was attacked because she is a Russian journalist. Second, she belongs to a foreign media, which was already regarded as a foreign agent and with which Russian authorities had a longstanding conflict on foreign agent legislation,” she said.

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The U.S. State Department said that Kurmasheva’s arrest was Russian harassment of a U.S. citizen. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied it. He said, “there has been absolutely no campaign in Russia to harass U.S. citizens.”

“There are U.S. citizens who violate the law, and legitimate measures are taken against them,” Peskov told reporters Friday.

She is the second U.S. journalist detained in Russia this year. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested on espionage charges in March. He is still awaiting trial and has been denied release from prison until his trial comes.

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John Sexton 9:20 PM | November 01, 2024
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