The State Department has determined Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich to be wrongfully detained in Russia.

The "wrongfully detained" designation, which the department announced they applied to Gershkovich on Monday, puts his case under the purview of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.

'NO DOUBT' US REPORTER BEING 'WRONGFULLY DETAINED' IN RUSSIA, BLINKEN SAYS

"Today, Secretary Blinken made a determination that Evan Gershkovich is wrongfully detained by Russia," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said in a statement. "Journalism is not a crime.  We condemn the Kremlin’s continued repression of independent voices in Russia, and its ongoing war against the truth. 

Gershkovitz was arrested late last month in Yekaterinburg, Russia and was accused of spying on behalf of the United States, a charge that his employer has repeatedly refuted. He is currently being held in a pretrial detention center at the Lefortovo prison until May 29, where he stands accused of spying on behalf of the United States and faces a 20 year prison sentence. He has filed an appeal.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said late last week that he believed Gershkovich was being wrongfully detained, though at the time, he specified he was offering his own opinion and not offering the department's determination.

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“In Evan’s case, we are working through the determination on wrongful detention and there’s a process to do that and it’s something we’re working through pretty deliberately, but expeditiously as well," he said in Belgium. "I’ll let that process play out. In my own mind, there’s no doubt he’s being wrongfully detained by Russia, which is exactly what I said to Foreign Minister Lavrov when I spoke with him over the weekend."

U.S. officials have not received consular access to Gershkovich, the White House said last Thursday.