The Wall Street Journal has strongly denied the charge of "espionage" officially leveled by Russia against its journalist, Ivan Gershkovitch, who has been detained for a week.

And the government agency TASS reported, quoting an unidentified source in the security forces, that the Russian authorities had "accused" the "Wall Street Journal" correspondent who worked for Agence France-Presse in the past, of "espionage for his country."

The agency added that the journalist "categorically denied all the charges and said that his activities in Russia are journalistic."

The Wall Street Journal condemned the charges, saying they were "false".

"As we have said from the outset, these accusations are completely false and unjustified, and we continue to call for Evan's immediate release," the American Business Daily said in a statement.

The Russian news agency Interfax reported that Gershkovich's trial is taking place on the basis of Article 276 of the Russian Criminal Code, which provides for a 20-year prison sentence for this charge. This indictment paves the way for a trial, the date of which has not yet been announced.

The reporter was arrested last week by Russian security services while covering Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains. The authorities accused him, in particular, of collecting information on the Russian defense industry.

Similar to the Wall Street Journal, the US authorities, led by President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, called on the Kremlin to release the journalist.

However, Moscow confirmed to the new US ambassador to Russia, Lynn Tracy, on Thursday that exerting pressure in this file is "useless."

The Russian Foreign Ministry stated that "the noise around this issue ... in order to pressure the Russian authorities and the court that will decide the fate of Ivan Gershkovich is useless and meaningless."

The Wall Street Journal called last week in an editorial for "the expulsion of the Russian ambassador from the United States and the Russian journalists working there, at least."

Moscow's warnings did not prevent Democrat Chuck Schumer and Republican Mitch McConnell, the highest-ranking officials in the US Senate, from calling, in an unprecedented joint statement on Friday, for the release of the journalist.

The two parliamentarians condemned what they considered "arbitrary arrest" and demanded "the immediate release of this independent journalist, who is appreciated all over the world."