Moscow: Russian Federal Security Service investigators have formally charged Evan Gershkovich with espionage but the Wall Street Journal reporter denied the charges and said he was working as a journalist, Russian news agencies said

“Gershkovich has been charged,” Interfax quoted a source as saying.

TASS reported that FSB investigators had formally charged Gershkovich, 31, with carrying out espionage in the interests of the United States.

“He categorically denied all the accusations and stated that he was engaged in journalistic activities in Russia,” TASS citied an unidentified source as saying.

The TASS source declined further comment, citing the classified nature of the case.

The 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.

“We’ve seen media reports indicating Evan has been charged,” the Journal said in a statement. “As we’ve said from the beginning, these charges are categorically false and unjustified, and we continue to demand Evan’s immediate release.”

Gershkovich is the first American journalist detained in Russia on espionage charges since the end of the Cold War.