YEKATERINBURG: US reporter Evan Gershkovich is set to appear in a Russian court on Thursday for the second hearing of his trial for espionage, a charge that his employer and the White House have labelled a sham.

The 32-year-old became the first Western journalist in Russia to be charged with spying since the Soviet era when he was detained in March 2023 on a reporting trip to the Urals city of Yekaterinburg.

He has spent almost 16 months in Russian detention and faces a prison sentence of up to 20 years if found guilty.

The trial is scheduled to resume behind closed doors in Yekaterinburg's Sverdlovsk Regional Court at 11:00 am (0600 GMT), almost a month earlier than expected at the request of his defence team.

Moscow and Washington have both said they are open to exchanging the Wall Street Journal reporter in a deal, but neither side has given clues as to when this might be.

The Kremlin has provided no public evidence for the spying allegations against Gershkovich, saying only that he was caught "red-handed" and was working for the US Central Intelligence Agency.

Prosecutors accuse him of spying on Russian tank maker Uralvagonzavod.

Washington has said the claims are fabricated, and a United Nations expert panel declared in July that he was being held arbitrarily.

His last public appearance in court was on June 26, when he spoke only briefly to greet journalists and his head was fully shaven.

The Russian penitentiary service refused to disclose to AFP where he would be held after the proceedings or why his hair had been cut.

Raised in New Jersey and a fluent Russian speaker, Gershkovich had reported from Russia for six years.

He carried on visiting the country on journalistic trips even after dozens of other Western reporters left in the wake of Russia's Ukraine offensive and the introduction of strict military censorship laws.

In 2017, he moved to the Russian capital to work for an English-language newspaper, The Moscow Times, where he produced some of the outlet's biggest stories on a shoestring budget.

He then worked for AFP before becoming a Moscow correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, weeks before the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine.

In the role, he covered how the conflict affected ordinary Russians, including by speaking to the families of dead soldiers.

There has been a major campaign to release Gershkovich, who spent almost 15 months in Moscow's notorious Lefortovo prison following his arrest.

"He is managing the best way he can," his mother, Ella Milman, told The Wall Street Journal in March.

Russia holds other American citizens in its jails, including marine Paul Whelan, in prison for more than five years on spying charges, and US-Russian journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, who was detained last year while visiting family.

The White House has warned US citizens still in the country to "depart immediately" due to the risk of wrongful arrest.

  - AFP