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Russia鈥檚 security service arrested an American reporter for The Wall Street Journal on espionage charges, the first time a U.S. correspondent has been detained on spying accusations since the Cold War. The newspaper denied the allegations and demanded his release.

Evan Gershkovich was detained in Yekaterinburg, Russia鈥檚 fourth-largest city, about 1,670 kilometers (1,035 miles) east of Moscow. Russia鈥檚 Federal Security Service accused him of trying to obtain classified information.

Known by the acronym FSB, the service is the top domestic security agency and main successor to the Soviet-era KGB. It alleged that Mr. Gershkovich 鈥渨as acting on instructions from the American side to collect information about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex that constitutes a state secret.鈥�

The Journal 鈥渧ehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich,鈥� the newspaper said. 鈥淲e stand in solidarity with Evan and his family.鈥�

The arrest comes at a moment of bitter tensions between the West and Moscow over its war in Ukraine and as the Kremlin intensifies a crackdown on opposition activists, independent journalists, and civil society groups.

The sweeping campaign of repression is unprecedented since the Soviet era. Activists say it often means the very profession of journalism is criminalized, along with the activities of ordinary Russians who oppose the war.

Earlier this week, a Russian court convicted a father over social media posts critical of the war and sentenced him to two years in prison. His daughter was sent to an orphanage.

Mr. Gershkovich is the first American reporter to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since September 1986, when Nicholas Daniloff, a Moscow correspondent for U.S. News and World Report, was arrested by the KGB. Mr. Daniloff was released without charge 20 days later in a swap for an employee of the Soviet Union鈥檚 United Nations mission who was arrested by the FBI, also on spying charges.

At a hearing Thursday, a Moscow court quickly ruled that Mr. Gershkovich would be kept behind bars pending the investigation.

While previous American detainees have been freed in prisoner swaps, a top Russian official said it was too early to talk about any such deal.

In Washington, the Biden administration said it had spoken with the Journal and Mr. Gershkovich鈥檚 family. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre condemned the arrest 鈥渋n the strongest terms鈥� and urged Americans to heed government warnings not to travel to Russia.

The State Department was in direct touch with the Russian government and seeking access to Mr. Gershkovich, Ms. Jean-Pierre said. The administration has no 鈥渟pecific indication鈥� that journalists in Russia are being targeted, she said.

Mr. Gershkovich, who covers Russia, Ukraine, and other ex-Soviet nations as a correspondent in the Journal鈥檚 Moscow bureau, could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of espionage. Prominent lawyers noted that past investigations into espionage cases took a year to 18 months, during which time he may have little contact with the outside world.

The FSB noted that Mr. Gershkovich had accreditation from the Russian Foreign Ministry to work as a journalist, but ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova alleged that Mr. Gershkovich was using his credentials as cover for 鈥渁ctivities that have nothing to do with journalism.鈥�

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters, 鈥淚t is not about a suspicion, it is about the fact that he was caught red-handed.鈥�

Mr. Gershkovich speaks fluent Russian and had previously worked for the French news agency Agence France-Presse and The New York Times. He was a 2014 graduate of Bowdoin College in Maine, where he was a philosophy major who cooperated with local papers and championed a free press, according to Clayton Rose, the college鈥檚 president.

His last report from Moscow, published earlier this week, focused on the Russian economy鈥檚 slowdown amid Western sanctions imposed after Russian troops invaded Ukraine last year.

Ivan Pavlov, a prominent Russian defense attorney who has worked on many espionage and treason cases, said Mr. Gershkovich鈥檚 case is the first criminal espionage charge against a foreign journalist in post-Soviet Russia.

鈥淭hat unwritten rule not to touch accredited foreign journalists, has stopped working,鈥� said Mr. Pavlov, a member of the First Department legal aid group.

Mr. Pavlov said the case against Mr. Gershkovich was built to give Russia 鈥渢rump cards鈥� for a future prisoner exchange and will likely be resolved 鈥渘ot by the means of the law, but by political, diplomatic means.鈥�

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov ruled out any quick swap.

鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 even consider this issue now because people who were previously swapped had already served their sentences,鈥� Mr. Ryabkov said, according to Russian news agencies.

In December, WNBA star Brittney Griner was freed after 10 months behind bars, in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Another American, Paul Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive, has been imprisoned in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges that his family and the U.S. government have said are baseless.

鈥淥ur family is sorry to hear that another American family will have to experience the same trauma that we have had to endure for the past 1,553 days,鈥� Mr. Whelan鈥檚 brother David said in an emailed statement. 鈥淚t sounds as though the frame-up of Mr. Gershkovich was the same as it was in Paul鈥檚 case.鈥�

Jeanne Cavelier, of the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders, said Mr. Gershkovich鈥檚 arrest 鈥渓ooks like a retaliation measure of Russia against the United States.鈥�

鈥淲e are very alarmed because it is probably a way to intimidate all Western journalists that are trying to investigate aspects of the war on the ground in Russia,鈥� said Ms. Cavelier, head of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk at the Paris-based group.

Another prominent lawyer with the First Department group, Yevgeny Smirnov, said that those arrested on espionage and treason charges are usually held at the FSB鈥檚 Lefortovo prison, where they are usually placed in total isolation, without phone calls, visitors or even access to newspapers. At most, they can receive letters, often delayed by weeks. Mr. Smirnov called these conditions 鈥渢ools of suppression.鈥�

Mr. Smirnov and Mr. Pavlov both said that any trial would be held behind closed doors. According to Mr. Pavlov, there have been no acquittals in treason and espionage cases in Russia since 1999.

This story was reported by The Associated Press.