Russian-American journalist jailed in Russia on ‘foreign agent’ charges

A Russian-American journalist and editor for Radio Free Europe was arrested in Russia and charged with failing to register as a foreign agent.

Alsu Kurmasheva was detained Wednesday while awaiting the return of her passports in Kazan, Russia, according to Radio Free Europe, a media organization funded by the U.S. government.

Radio Free Europe acting President Jeffrey Gedmin said Kurmasheva “needs to be released so she can return to her family immediately.”

“Alsu is a highly respected colleague, devoted wife, and dedicated mother to two children,” Gedmin said in a statement.

Kurmasheva lives in Prague but has dual citizenship in Russia and the U.S.

She has covered ethnic minority communities in the republics of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan in the Volga-Ural region of Russia, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

She traveled to Russia in May for an emergency family issue, according to Radio Free Europe, and was arrested June 2. Kurmasheva has been held ever since and was formally charged this week, facing up to five years in prison.

A news outlet in Tatarstan reported that Russia is accusing Kurmasheva of collecting military secrets about Russia via the internet to transmit to foreign sources, and used information about teachers who were drafted into the armed forces.

Gulnoza Said, a program coordinator for Europe and Central Asia at the CPJ, called for Kurmasheva’s immediate release.

“CPJ is deeply concerned by the detention of U.S-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva on spurious criminal charges and calls on Russian authorities to release her immediately and drop all charges against her,” Said added in a statement.

The CPJ says Russia last year raided the offices of seven journalists with Radio Free Europe who covered the Tatarstan and Bashkortostan republics.

Russian authorities this year also arrested a Wall Street Journal reporter, Evan Gershkovich, charging him with collecting military secrets on behalf of the U.S., allegations that he and the Biden administration have unequivocally denied.

Gershkovich was the first American reporter to be arrested in Russia since the Cold War.

After the war in Ukraine broke out in early 2022, Russia passed a law that strengthened restrictions on “foreign agents” registration and made it easier to arrest those accused of being under foreign influence.