Yekaterinburg (Russia) (AFP) - Russia’s expedited espionage trial of US reporter Evan Gershkovich reached its final stages on Friday in a case condemned as a sham by Washington.

The 32-year-old correspondent for The Wall Street Journal is the first Western journalist in Russia to be charged with spying since the Soviet era.

He was detained in March 2023 on a reporting trip to the Urals city of Yekaterinburg and then spent almost 16 months in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo prison.

If found guilty by a closed military court, he faces a sentence of up to 20 years in a penal colony.

The latest closed-door hearing started around 10:45 am local time (0545 GMT) at Sverdlovsk Regional Court in Yekaterinburg, with the prosecution and defence teams set to give their final arguments.

Court spokeswoman Yekaterina Maslennikova told journalists and supporters waiting outside that “the judge has entered the courtroom. The closing arguments have begun.”

The verdict could then be announced as early as Friday or at a later date.

Gershkovich’s trial has moved rapidly since the first hearing in late June.

Other similar cases in Russia have dragged on far more slowly with several weeks or even months between hearings.

- Possible prisoner swap -

In Washington’s view, Gershkovich’s arrest was primarily intended to help Russia use him as a “bargaining chip” to secure the release of Russians convicted abroad.

Tensions are running extremely high between the countries over Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine.

Russia has a policy of not exchanging prisoners internationally unless they have already been convicted.

Moscow and Washington have both said they are open to exchanging the reporter in a deal, but neither has given clues on when that might happen.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that talks between US and Russian special services over possible prisoner exchanges were ongoing, without naming any specific individuals.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has implied he wants to see the release of Vadim Krasikov, a Russian convicted in Germany of killing a Chechen separatist commander. German judges said it was an assassination orchestrated by Russian authorities.

Among other US nationals detained in Russia are reporter Alsu Kurmasheva and ballerina Ksenia Karelina, who are both dual US-Russian citizens, and former US marine Paul Whelan, who is serving a 16-year sentence for spying.

On Thursday, a Moscow court sentenced former US paratrooper Michael Travis Leake to 13 years in prison on charges of drug dealing.

- ‘Arbitrary’ detention -

The Kremlin has provided no public evidence for the spying allegations against Gershkovich, saying only that he was caught “red-handed” spying on a tank factory in the Urals region and was working for the CIA.

“Evan has never been employed by the United States government. Evan is not a spy,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said last month.

A United Nations working group this month stated that Gershkovich’s detention on spying charges was “arbitrary” and called for his immediate release.

The US-born son of Soviet emigres raised in New Jersey, Gershkovich had reported from Russia since 2017, opting to stay on even following Moscow’s Ukraine offensive.

While in prison, he has communicated with friends and family in hand-written letters that revealed he has kept a sense of humour and not lost hope about his situation.

At his first trial hearing on June 26, he spoke briefly to greet journalists and appeared smiling and cheerful, while revealing that his head had been fully shaven.

The Wall Street Journal has called the accusation against Gershkovich bogus, saying he never worked for the US government and was arrested for “simply doing his job”.

The White House has warned US citizens still in Russia to “depart immediately” due to the risk of wrongful arrest.