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A Moscow court has shot down an appeal by Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich challenging a decision to extend his pre-trial detention. Gershkovich, 31, was arrested almost six months ago in Russia on spying charges. Russian officials accused him of collecting state secrets about the military. He – along with the Wall Street Journal and the US government – denies these allegations. The decision to extend his pre-trial detention had been made in August. Last week, US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield and Gershkovich’s family called for his immediate release from Moscow’s Lefortovo prison. The Moscow city court on Tuesday upheld its initial ruling. A judge in Lefortovo Court in Moscow extended the journalist’s pre-trial detention until 30 November. The hearing was held behind closed doors. The WSJ journalist will remain in jail until then, reported Russia’s Tass news agency. “The Moscow City Court considered the lawyers’ complaint in a closed court session and decided to remove the material regarding E Gershkovich from appeal consideration, and send the material to the Lefortovo District Court of Moscow to eliminate the circumstances impeding the consideration of the criminal case in the appellate court,” the court said in a statement. It remains unclear why the court refused to consider Gershkovich’s appeal. The case is expected to be returned to a lower court. The 31-year-old American citizen had been granted accreditation by Russia’s foreign ministry to work there as a journalist. He was arrested by agents of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor agency to the KGB, during a reporting assignment in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on 29 March this year. This is the first instance of a Western journalist being arrested on espionage charges in Russia since the end of the Cold War. If Gershkovich gets convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison. According to Russian law, people found guilty of espionage can potentially receive a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. US envoy to Russia Lynne Tracy, who was present in the courtroom on Tuesday, told the media: “The US position remains unwavering. The charges against Evan are baseless. The Russian government locked Evan up for simply doing his job. Journalism is not a crime.” “Evan is fully aware of the gravity of his situation, yet he remains remarkably strong,” she said. To mark Gershkovich’s 100 days in jail since July this year, the White House press secretary said: “The world knows that the charges against Evan are baseless – he was arrested in Russia during the course of simply doing his job as a journalist, and he is being held by Russia for leverage because he is an American.” After visiting the journalist in prison, Ms Thomas-Greenfield said: “No family should have to watch their loved one being used as a political pawn. And that’s exactly what President [Vladimir] Putin is doing. Russia’s actions are beyond cruel, and they are a violation of international law.” US president Joe Biden said in July that he was “serious on a prisoner exchange”. “And I’m serious about doing all we can to free Americans being illegally held in Russia, or anywhere else for that matter, and that process is underway,” he said. “President [Joe] Biden spoke to us and gave us a promise to do whatever it takes” to bring Gershkovich home, his parents, Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich, said in a July interview with ABC News. “He told us he understands our pain,” said Ms Milman, the mother of the WSJ journalist. In a letter earlier this month to the UN’s working group on arbitrary detention, lawyers for the WSJ’s publisher accused Mr Putin of using Gershkovich as a pawn and of “holding him hostage.” The lawyers argue that Mr Putin wants to use Gershkovich “to gain leverage over – and extract a ransom from – the United States, just as he has done with other American citizens whom he has wrongfully detained”. The letter said Gershkovich’s ongoing detention “is a flagrant violation of many of his fundamental human rights”. In June this year, nearly three dozen US senators wrote a letter to Gershkovich expressing their “profound anger and concern” over his detention in the Russian prison. The letter said a “free press is crucial to the foundation and support of human rights everywhere” and that every day he spends in a Russian prison “is a day too long”. “We applaud you for your efforts to report the truth about Russia’s reprehensible invasion of Ukraine, a conflict that has resulted in untellable atrocities, tragedies, and loss of life,” the letter read. It said the senators “understand the enormous burden you may feel as the Russian government uses you as a political tool”. Read More U.S. ambassador to Russia visits jailed WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich Father of imprisoned reporter Evan Gershkovich calls on world leaders to urge Russia to free him A new Iran deal shows the Biden administration is willing to pay a big price to free Americans The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

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“Shady deals” with Russia must be stopped as Vladimir Putin cannot be trusted, Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky said in an emphatic address to the UN General Assembly. Notorious mercenary leader and Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin died in an unexplained crash when a plane carrying him and some of his top lieutenants went down while flying between Moscow and St Petersburg in late August. Western leaders have suspected the Kremlin’s involvement in his death as the mercenary leader had attempted a coup in Russia just weeks before. “Evil cannot be trusted – ask Prigozhin if one bets on Putin’s promises,” Mr Zelensky said on Tuesday, claiming he was aware of “attempts to make some shady deals behind the scenes”. “Please, hear me. Let unity decide everything openly,” he said. The war-time leader told the UN assembly that Russia has no rights to hold nuclear weapons while it continues to blackmail other nations by weaponising food. “History shows that it was Russia who deserved nuclear disarmament. Terrorists have no right to hold nuclear weapons,” he told the UN member states gathered in New York. He called for a global front on the war and warned of dangers from Russia to the UN General Assembly. “The goal of the present war against Ukraine is to turn our lands, our people, our resources into a weapon against you, against the international rules-based order. Many seats in the General Assembly hall may become empty if Russia succeeds with its treachery and aggression,” he said. Mr Zelensky was addressing the gathering at a sensitive point in his country’s campaign to maintain international support for its fight against the invasion. Nearly 19 months after Moscow launched its war, Ukrainian forces have stepped up a counteroffensive that has continued for three months now amid comments that it has not gone on as fast or as well as initially hoped. “We must stand up to this naked aggression today and deter other would-be aggressors tomorrow,” US president Joe Biden earlier told the assembly. The world must remain united in defending Ukraine, he said, warning that no nation can be secure if “we allow Ukraine to be carved up”. This is not the first time Mr Zelensky has blamed the Russian regime under Mr Putin for Prigozhin’s death. Earlier this month, he said Mr Putin orchestrated the killing of Wagner boss Prigozhin. “The fact that he killed Prigozhin – at least that’s the information we all have, not any other kind – that also speaks to his rationality, and about the fact that he is weak,” he had said. Russia will get its chance to address the General Assembly on Saturday. Its deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky was in Russia’s seat during Mr Zelensky’s address. “Did he speak?” Mr Polyansky said when an Associated Press reporter asked about his reaction to the address. “I didn’t notice he was speaking. I was on my phone.” Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin ‘weaponising’ food as troops target cargo ship in Black Sea Russia is ‘weaponising’ food, energy and children in war on Ukraine, Zelensky tells UN Drones shot down over Russian cities near Ukraine border in overnight attack Russia’s UN ambassador plays on phone as Biden addresses Assembly Republicans at war over Ukraine funding as Zelensky flies into town

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By Fernando Kallas OLIVA, Spain (Reuters) -Spain's World Cup winning-squad agreed to end their boycott of the national team early