According to a report by Vecherniye Vedomosti on April 18, law enforcement officials visited Yaroslav Shirshikov, a PR professional from Yekaterinburg, who initially alerted the authorities about the detention of Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich. Following the interrogation, Shirshikov was remanded to a detention center, and a criminal case was filed against him for justifying terrorism.
In the early morning of April 18, law enforcement officers came to PR specialist Yaroslav Shirshikov, as the Urallive pro-government channel reports. Possibly it happened due to a post he made about the detention of journalist Evan Gershkovich. The channel later updated its report, stating that Shirshikov might face charges for justifying the murder of Vladlen Tatarsky.
However, Vecherniye Vedomosti reported that Shirshikov was charged with justifying terrorism on the Internet and has been placed in custody until the trial.
In his Telegram channel on March 30, Shirshikov mentioned that he had met Gershkovich a few weeks earlier. The journalist interviewed him about public opinion regarding the Wagner PMC. Gershkovich had left Shirshikov’s phone number to his colleagues, "just in case." Subsequently, the journalist was arrested on espionage charges. The FSB claims that he was gathering state secrets on behalf of the US, with the court in Moscow remanding him in custody until May 29.
