US journalist detained in Russia

WASHINGTON: 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 late on Wednesday.

Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with the US 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 centre as of Wednesday evening, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a statement, citing state media Tatar-Inform.

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 May 20 for a family emergency, the CPJ said.