A Russian court found US reporter Evan Gershkovich guilty of espionage charges on Friday and jailed him for 16 years, Russian news agencies reported, in a case his employer, the Wall Street Journal, has called a sham.
Gershkovich, a 32-year-old American who said the allegations against him were false, went on trial last month in the city of Yekaterinburg. He was the first US journalist arrested on spying charges in Russia since the Cold War.
Espionage cases often take months to handle and the unusual speed at which his trial was held behind closed doors - Friday's hearing was only the third in the trial - has stoked speculation that a long-discussed US-Russia prisoner exchange deal involving him and potentially other Americans detained in Russia may be in the offing.
The Kremlin, when asked by Reuters on Friday about the possibility of such an exchange, declined to comment: "I'll leave your question unanswered," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Russian prosecutors had alleged that Gershkovich had gathered secret information on the orders of the US Central Intelligence Agency about a company that manufactures tanks for Moscow's war in Ukraine, which he and his employer denied.
Officers of the FSB security service arrested him on March 29, 2023, at a steakhouse in Yekaterinburg, 900 miles (1,400 km) east of Moscow. He has since been held in Moscow's Lefortovo prison.
Earlier on Friday, the court hearing the case had unexpectedly said it would pronounce its verdict within hours after state prosecutors demanded he be jailed for 18 years for spying.
The maximum sentence for the crime he is accused of is 20 years.
Russia usually concludes legal proceedings against foreigners before making any deals on exchanging them for Russians held abroad.
'Sham trial'
Gershkovich, his newspaper and the US government all rejected the allegations against him and said he was merely doing his job as a reporter accredited by the Foreign Ministry to work in Russia.
"Even as Russia orchestrates its shameful sham trial, we continue to do everything we can to push for Evan's immediate release," the Journal said in a statement on Thursday.
The US embassy, also on Thursday, said: "Regardless of what Russian authorities claim, Evan is a journalist. He did not commit any illegal actions. Russian authorities have been unable to provide evidence that he committed a crime or justification for Evan's continued detention."
State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel on Thursday declined to speak publicly about negotiations on a prisoner exchange, but said Washington was seeking the release of Gershkovich and another jailed American, former US Marine Paul Whelan, as soon as possible.
The Kremlin said the case and the trial arrangements were matters for the court. The Kremlin has stated in the past - without publishing evidence - that Gershkovich was caught spying "red-handed."
US officials have repeatedly accused Russia of using Gershkovich and Whelan as bargaining chips for a possible prisoner exchange.
Washington considers both men "wrongfully detained" and says it is committed to bringing them home.
President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is open to a prisoner exchange involving Gershkovich and that contacts with the United States have taken place but must remain secret.
Since Russian troops entered Ukraine in 2022, Moscow and Washington have conducted just one high profile prisoner swap: Russia released basketball star Brittney Griner, held for smuggling cannabis, in return for arms dealer Viktor Bout, jailed for terrorism-related offenses in the United States.