(Add quote, data on World Bank forecast for Russian economy)
WASHINGTON, April 10 (Reuters) - Russia's detention of
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is a "brazen act"
and violates the vital freedom of the press, including the
safety of journalists, World Bank President David Malpass said
on Monday.
Russian Federal Security Service investigators last week
charged Gershkovich with espionage but the Wall Street Journal
reporter denied the accusation and said he was working as a
journalist, domestic news agencies said on Friday.
The Federal Security Service said on March 30 it had
detained Gershkovich in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg and had
opened an espionage case against him for collecting what it said
were state secrets about the military industrial complex.
"It's a brazen act by Russia. It violates press freedom,
freedom of the press, which the World Bank Group has long
recognized as vital. That includes the safety of journalists,"
Malpass told reporters, adding his hope that Gershkovich and his
family could be reunited as quickly and safely as possible.
"Press freedom increases transparency and
accountability. It keeps a check on governance, it exposes
corruption, transmits ideas, promotes innovation," Malpass said.
Malpass said Russia's invasion of Ukraine had massively
harmed the people of Russia, but its gross domestic product
numbers did not fully reflect that.
The bank's current forecast called for Russia's economy
to contract by -0.2% in 2023, a slight improvement from the
-0.7% contraction forecast in January, he said.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal and David Lawder; Editing by Chizu
Nomiyama)
