Evan Gershkovich has been officially detained by Russian police for one year. The Wall Street Journal Russian correspondent was arrested by Russian authorities on March 29 under unbiased claims of espionage by Russia’s Federal Security Bureau.
Of Russian-Jewish descent, Gershkovich grew up in the United States with Russian influences, moving to Russia to cover its issues and economy for different news sites in 2017. Before his arrest, his coverage spanned the ongoing war in Ukraine. There seems to be little hope for his release anytime soon. Gershkovich has had three months added to his sentence without even having made it to trial yet. The Russian government has provided no evidence in support of these added charges. More importantly, officials in charge of this case have not even provided a trial date, making the thought of the reporter spending 20 years in a Russian penal colony that much more ominous.
NPR reports that this is the first time since 1986 that an American reporter was charged with espionage, so the rules surrounding Gershkovich’s case remain unclear.
As news platforms report on this case, there are cloudy understandings as to why exactly Gershkovich is being detained. Russian president Vladimir Putin’s hatred towards journalists is not new— especially ones speaking out about the injustices in Ukraine — which would explain the false charge.
According to Vox, thousands of journalists have been exiled from Russia due to the war in Ukraine, and Gershkovich has been covering this and more on what is happening within the Russian government and its economy. This is one of the many theories as to why he is being detained on a lie, and it seems to be the most plausible. The extension of his sentence only proves what happens when attempting to tell the truth about an authoritarian dictatorship.
Putin said in a February 2024 interview with Tucker Carlson that he would consider releasing Gershkovich in exchange for Vadim Krasikov, who is being held in Germany for the murder of a Georgian man residing in Berlin. Krasikov’s release is not up to Biden, though, but rather the German government.
On the anniversary of Gershkovich’s imprisonment, the White House released a statement proclaiming that “journalism is not a crime.” They will continue to stand up against Russia using Americans as bargaining chips and they are not giving up trying to get him released. AP News maintains that Biden and his office are working on a new deal to get both Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan out of Russian prisons.
This would mean a major win for Biden’s presidency right when he needs it, but can he get it done? And possibly more importantly to him, will it help erase America’s disdain for him at the moment?
Presidential candidates have not been shy about their disdain for journalists, with Trump threatening “retribution” against the free press, it is a dangerous world for reporters even in America. Though Biden has denounced this rhetoric, it does not feel as though he is doing much to vouch for journalistic freedom besides using the free press as a way to separate himself from rivals like Trump and Putin. Because of this, journalists around the world suffer.
Only time will tell what this exchange could mean for American journalists and politicians, but from the looks of it, the Kremlin is not loosening its grip on the Americans anytime soon.
Things are looking grim for Gershkovich. Without a trial date and with the knowledge that Putin is known for wrongfully detaining anyone considered to be a political threat, prison is slowly setting in to be this reporter’s reality. One year later, things only seem to be getting worse. Especially after the imprisonment and death of Putin’s political opponent Alexey Navalny in February, many are fearing the Kremlin’s growing power and tight hold of the information coming in and out of Russia.
Evan Gershkovich, by simply doing his job, is a hero that the Kremlin fears for simply telling the truth about what is going on behind the curtain.
