A Wall Street Journal reporter arrested in Russia on espionage charges is from New Jersey, News 12 has learned.

Evan Gershkovich graduated from Princeton High School in 2010. He is the first American to be arrested on those charges since 1986. Russia says Gershkovich tried to obtain classified information about the Russian military industrial complex.

The Federal Security Service, which is the top domestic security agency and main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, alleged that Gershkovich “was acting on instructions from the American side to collect information about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex that constitutes a state secret.”

“The Wall Street Journal vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich,” the newspaper said. “We stand in solidarity with Evan and his family.”

Gershkovich’s last report from Moscow, published earlier this week, focused on the Russian economy's slowdown amid western sanctions imposed when Russian troops entered Ukraine in 2022.

At a hearing Thursday, a Moscow court ruled to keep Gershkovich behind bars pending the investigation. While previous American detainees have been freed in prisoner swaps, a top Russian official said it was too early to talk about any such deal.

Gov. Phil Murphy reacted to the situation on Twitter.

"The Putin regime is brazenly targeting American citizens. We will do everything in our power to help bring Evan home," Murphy wrote in part.

Gershkovich covers Russia, Ukraine and other ex-Soviet nations as a correspondent in The Wall Street Journal’s Moscow bureau. He could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of espionage.