Moscow detains another American journalist
Alsu Kurmasheva was initially fined for failing to register her American passport
Alsu Kurmasheva was initially fined for failing to register her American passport
A Russian-American journalist working for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has been detained in Russia and charged with failing to register as a foreign agent, her employer and a journalist watchdog group said Wednesday.
Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with the United States Congress-funded outlet's Tatar-Bashkir service, "needs to be released so she can return to her family immediately," RFE/RL acting president Jeffrey Gedmin said in a statement.
"Alsu is a highly respected colleague, devoted wife and dedicated mother to two children," Gedmin said.
She is the second US journalist to be held by Russia in recent months. Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, has been detained since March, accused of spying.
Kurmasheva was being held at a temporary detention center as of Wednesday evening, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said in a statement, citing state media Tatar-Inform.
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A representative of Russian human-rights
news website OVD-Info told CPJ that Kurmasheva would "most likely" be transferred to pre-trial detention shortly.
Kurmasheva lives in Prague, Czech Republic, but entered Russia on 20 May for a family emergency, the CPJ said.
She was temporarily detained at the Kazan airport on 2 June before her return flight, where both her US and Russian passports were confiscated and she was fined for failing to register her American passport with Russian authorities, according to RFE/RFL.
Citing Tatar-Inform, the CPJ said Kurmasheva is accused of having "deliberately conducted a targeted collection of military information about Russian activities via the Internet in order to transmit information to foreign sources" last year, and providing international authorities with "alternative analytical materials" as part of "information campaigns discrediting Russia."
Kurmasheva was awaiting the return of her passports when the new charges were announced Wednesday, the CPJ said, adding that if found guilty she faces up to five years in jail.
