US reporter KNEW he would 'be followed' before being detained by Russian spy ... trends now

An American journalist who was arrested in Russia accused of spying warned that he would be followed before he was detained.

Evan Gershkovich, 31, was working for The Wall Street Journal in Yekaterinburg investigating the Wagner mercenary group when he was arrested. 

His colleague has now revealed that he was aware that he might be followed by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) because of the story.

Dmitry Kolezev, an independent Russian Journalist, told NBC News that he understood the risks 'very well' before working on the assignment.

Kolezev said: 'He sounded pretty sure that they wouldn't touch him because he was an American journalist working for a famous newspaper.

'He said that he understands this very well, and he had the same kind of chase when he was traveling to Perm.

'He understood this well, but he was sure that since he was not doing anything illegal, everything would be limited to ordinary surveillance and, perhaps, some kind of intimidation. It turned out much worse.'

He insisted: 'Evan is a very brave guy, a good journalist, not a spy at all.'

Gershkovich, who was based in the UK, would travel to Russia for two to three weeks at a time on assignments.

But his confidence that he would be left alone was misplaced, and he was rrested in Yekaterinburg on Tuesday on suspicion of 'espionage in the interests of the American government.'

In a statement the FSB accused him of collecting 'information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.'

Gershkovich was frogmarched into court on March 30 where he pleaded not guilty to the charges according to Russian Media in Lefortovo.

Wearing a yellow-colored hooded jacket, the journalist was seen being taken from the back of a blacked-out Russian police vehicle before being walked into the court.

He was later seen piling back into the law enforcement van, keeping his head down.

The court ruled that he should be held in pre-trial custody for nearly two months, with his next hearing on May 29.

The American-educated reporter, who is an accredited foreign correspondent in Moscow, could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of espionage.

The FSB accused Gershkovich of collecting 'information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex that constitutes a state secret.'

Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: 'It is not about a suspicion, is it about the fact that he was caught red-handed.'

This is most serious public move against a foreign journalist since Russia invaded Ukraine. It's also the first time a U.S. correspondent has been detained on spying accusations since the Cold War.

The Wall Street Journal said in a statement: 'The WSJ vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich. We stand in solidarity with Evan and his family.'

On Thursday, Gershkovich's lawyer Daniil Berman told reporters outside court: 'I am certain that my client could only be engaged in legal activities.'

Berman also said he was barred from being present at the custody hearing held in Lefortovo court - as well as being banned from seeing the arrest documents.

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.

The FSB said that Gershkovich 'was acting on the US orders to collect information about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military industrial complex that constitutes a state secret'.

He was 'acting on instructions' from the US government, it was alleged.

'While trying to obtain secret information, an American was detained in Yekaterinburg,' said the FSB which provided no evidence for its accusations.

The FSB is a domestic security and counterintelligence agency that is the top successor agency to the Soviet era KGB.

Putin's spokesman did not elaborate on what he believed Evan Gershkovich was allegedly caught 'red-handed' for.

The Wagner Group, one of the subjects Gershkovich is reported to have been writing on, is led by close Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Wagner mercenaries are deployed to further Russian interests abroad by doing the jobs that no official military branch could be associated with and have earned a reputation for using sheer force and brutality to achieve their goals.

Prigozhin, 61, the chief financier and founder of PMC Wagner, claims his contractors are deployed across the border to help achieve the Russian president's goal – the so-called 'denazification' of Ukraine.

The group has for years acted as Putin's personal band of enforcers, though it maintains connections with Russia's foreign military intelligence agency, the GRU.

Founded in 2014, Wagner contractors got straight to work following the

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