Russian court hearing of jailed US reporter Gershkovich brought forward to July 18

MOSCOW (Reuters) -A new hearing in the espionage trial of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been brought forward to July 18 from Aug. 13, the Russian court hearing his case said on Tuesday.

Gershkovich, a 32-year-old American journalist who denies any wrongdoing, went on trial behind closed doors last month in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, where he faces charges of espionage which could carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

Prosecutors allege that Gershkovich gathered secret information on the orders of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency about a company that manufactures tanks for Russia's war in Ukraine.

Officers of the FSB security service arrested him on March 29, 2023 at a steakhouse in Yekaterinburg, 900 miles (1,400 km) east of Moscow. He has since been held in Moscow's Lefortovo prison.

Gershkovich, his newspaper and the U.S. government all reject the allegations and say he was merely doing his job as a reporter accredited by the Foreign Ministry to work in Russia.

The RIA state-run news agency cited a court spokesperson on Tuesday as saying that the decision to move up the date of the new hearing had been made at the request of Gershkovich's defence team.

While journalists were briefly allowed to film Gershkovich before the start of his trial in June, Thursday's hearing will be closed to the press, the court service said.

The court said the next time the media would have access to Gershkovich would be when the verdict is announced.

Closed trials are standard in Russia for cases of treason or espionage involving classified material.

The Kremlin says the case and the trial arrangements are a matter for the court, but has stated - without publishing evidence - that Gershkovich was caught "red-handed".

U.S. officials have repeatedly said that the charges are a sham and that Russia is using Gershkovich and another jailed American, former Marine Paul Whelan, as bargaining chips for a possible prisoner exchange.

Washington considers both men "wrongfully detained" and says it is committed to bringing them home.

President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is open to a prisoner exchange involving Gershkovich and that contacts with the United States have taken place but must remain secret.

(Reporting by ReutersEditing by Andrew Osborn and Peter Graff)