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Some 200 Russian journalists and activists have signed an open letter demanding the immediate release of Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter detained by Moscow last week. Russia has accused Gershkovich without eence of spying for the U.S. government.
In the letter, dated Tuesday, the signatories expressed deep skepticism about the charges against Gershkovich, an American working for the Journal’s Moscow bureau, who was arrested while on a reporting trip near the Ural Mountains. A court ordered his detention until late May. Gershkovich has filed an appeal.
The U.S. government and the Journal have forcefully rejected allegations by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) — the successor to the KGB — that Gershkovich was collecting intelligence on a defense enterprise. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters Wednesday that there is “no doubt” Gershkovich’s arrest was wrongful. He said a process is underway to seek his release.
The letter’s authors called the charges against Gershkovich “preposterous and unjust” and said the FSB was simply expecting the world to take it at its word. The Kremlin has a history of unjustly detaining U.S. citizens, Western officials have said.
Many of the signatories were independent journalists working for Russian news organizations based outside their homeland. The letter was published in outlets such as Mediazona, whose reporters are scattered outside Russia, and TV Rain, which broadcasts from the Netherlands. Their locations symbolize the collapse of press freedom since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine last year.
The letter’s authors also compared Gershkovich to Ivan Safronov, a Russian journalist sentenced in September to 22 years on treason charges. Eence was not made public, as Safronov’s trial was held behind closed doors, The Washington Post has reported.
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Putin’s Russia — long hostile to journalists — has further clamped down on dissent over the past year. The regime threatens people with up to 15 years in prison if they make comments “discrediting” the armed forces, according to Amnesty International.
During the week of Gershkovich’s detention, a Russian father was arrested and convicted after his 13-year-old daughter drew an antiwar picture in school, The Post reported.
Gershkovich is the first foreign journalist detained by Russia on espionage charges since the Cold War. His arrest followed the U.S. indictment of Sergey Cherkasov, a Russian who studied at Johns Hopkins University using what officials say was a fake Brazilian passport. Moscow denies that Cherkasov, now in detention in Brazil, is a spy.
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Russia previously released Americans Brittney Griner and Trevor Reed in de facto prisoner swaps. Griner was detained on drug charges after customs officials found cannabis oil in her luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport. Reed was sentenced to nine years in prison after allegedly endangering the “life and health” of police officers during an arrest.
The Biden administration freed Konstantin Yaroshenko, a pilot imprisoned on drug smuggling charges, and Viktor Bout, an arms dealer who was serving a 25-year prison term for conspiring to kill Americans.
Russian authorities are still holding Paul Whelan, a former Marine arrested in 2018. Washington and Whelan’s family have called the charges baseless.
Gershkovich, 31, was born to Jewish parents who fled the Soviet Union and resettled in New Jersey, according to the Journal. He has written about the war in Ukraine, the Russian economy and Putin’s inner court.
Gershkovich’s company-appointed lawyers met with him in prison this week, the Journal’s top editor, Emma Tucker, said in a letter to colleagues.
“Our thoughts are first and foremost with Evan’s family,” she said. “They are incredibly resilient in the face of extraordinarily difficult circumstances.”
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