Cars go past the headquarters of the Federal Security Service, and Lubyanka Square in front of it in central Moscow on March 3, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP)

MOSCOW – The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said Thursday it had arrested a Wall Street Journal reporter on espionage charges.

The FSB said US citizen Evan Gershkovich, a reporter at the Wall Street Journal's Moscow bureau, is suspected of "spying in the interests of the American government."

ALSO READ: Russia opens criminal case against US citizen over espionage

It added that Gershkovich "gathered information classified as state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of Russia's military-industrial complex," acting on instructions from the US government.

The FSB said the US citizen was detained in Yekaterinburg while trying to obtain the secret information, adding that a criminal espionage case has been launched.