Russia's detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is a "brazen act" and violates the vital freedom of the press, including the safety of journalists, World Bank President David Malpass said on Monday.
Russian Federal Security Service investigators last week charged Gershkovich with espionage but the Wall Street Journal reporter denied the accusation and said he was working as a journalist, domestic news agencies said on Friday.
Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on March 30 it had detained Gershkovich in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg and had opened an espionage case against him for collecting what it said were state secrets about the military industrial complex.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and David Lawder; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
