Evan Gershkovich

Evan Gershkovich (born October 26, 1991) is an American journalist and reporter at The Wall Street Journal covering Russia. He was detained by Russia's Federal Security Service on charges of espionage in March 2023, marking the first time a journalist working for an American outlet had been arrested on charges of spying in Russia since the Cold War. The White House and media advocacy groups have condemned the arrest.

Experts have speculated that the motivation behind the order for Gershkovich's arrest was an anticipated prisoner exchange for one or more high-profile Russians imprisoned in other countries. Gershkovich, who remained in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine after his arrest in 2023.

Gershkovich's parents, Ella and Mikhail Gershkovich, Jewish immigrants who settled in the U.S. after leaving the Soviet Union separately left the Soviet Union during a period of mass emigration, ending up in the United States in 1979 and eventually New York City, where they met. The couple moved to Princeton, New Jersey, where Gershkovich and his sister grew up speaking Russian at home.

Gershkovich graduated from Princeton High School, where he captained the soccer team, in 2010. At Bowdoin College, he majored in philosophy and English, wrote for The Bowdoin Orient and The Bowdoin Review, and DJ'd for WBOR, the campus radio station. He graduated in 2014.

Gershkovich worked for The New York Times from 2016 to 2017, The Moscow Times from 2017 to 2020, and Agence France-Presse from 2020 to 2022 before moving to The Wall Street Journal in January 2022. He had lived in Russia for six years prior to his arrest, at the time of which he was based at the Journal's bureau in Moscow and covering the war in Ukraine. He was working in Yekaterinburg when arrested, covering the Russian mercenary military organization Wagner.

On March 29, 2023, the counterintelligence department of the Federal Security Service (FSB) detained Gershkovich in Yekaterinburg while he was on a reporting trip for having information on a "Russian defence enterprise". According to U.S. officials, Gershkovich's driver dropped him off at a steakhouse at 4 p.m. and two hours later, his phone was turned off. The Wall Street Journal hired a lawyer to find him at the FSB's headquarters but couldn't locate him. The Kremlin confirmed his arrest hours later. Dmitri Peskov, Russian president Vladimir Putin's press secretary, said that he was "caught red-handed" but could not provide further details. He was transferred to Moscow where he was formally arrested by a district court until May 29. He was then taken to Lefortovo Prison, a holding facility used by the Soviet Union to detain Soviet dissidents. He was formally charged on April 7. United States ambassador to Russia Lynne M. Tracy met with Gershkovich on April 17 and wrote that he is "in good health and remains strong".

Gershkovich was detained by Russia's Federal Security Service under charges of espionage, marking the first time a journalist working for an American news outlet has been arrested in Russia on charges of spying since the Cold War. According to NPR, a court, operating in closed session, ordered Gershkovich held until the end of May while investigations were ongoing. According to Kommersant, he was scheduled to be transferred to Lefortovo prison while awaiting trial. A conviction for espionage could carry a sentence of 20 years.

Gershkovich appealed his arrest on April 3. A judge denied his appeal and rejected an offer from The Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones to post a bond of 50,000,000₽ (US$600,000). Gershkovich's lawyers said he was reading Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace (1869) and watching cooking shows on monastery cuisine. In a handwritten letter from April 5 obtained by The Wall Street Journal, Gershkovich said he was "not losing hope". He appeared in Moscow City Court on April 18 to appeal his pre-trial detention. A Moscow court extended his detention to August 30 on May 23, where Gershkovich's parents met him. The court rejected his legal team's offer to free him on bail of 50 million rubles ($614,000) or put him under house arrest. He appealed the extension on May 26; a Moscow court denied the appeal on June 22. Tracy met with Gershkovich on July 3.

Reactions

The charges were "vehemently denied" by the Journal, and the arrest was criticized by the White House, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the Society of Professional Journalists, and other media advocacy groups. Within days NATO and the European Union issued statements criticizing the arrest.

On 27 April 2023, the Biden administration sanctioned Russia's Federal Security Service and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence organization, accusing them of wrongfully detaining Americans.

Secretary of state Antony Blinken spoke to his counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, on April 2. He expressed "grave concern" over Gershkovich's arrest and called for the release of Paul Whelan, a former Marine accused of espionage in 2018. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs repeated the Kremlin's claim that Gershkovich committed "illegal activities". Russian ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov claimed that under secretary of state for political affairs Victoria Nuland threatened Russia with "retaliatory measures" unless Gershkovich was released. On April 10, 2023, the US State Departmentofficially designated Gershkovich as "wrongfully detained", meaning his case will be transferred to the office of the Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called Gershkovich's arrest "unacceptable". In a statement, Jean-Pierre said, "We condemn the detention of Mr. Gershkovich in the strongest terms." Additionally, she said that releasing Gershkovich was a priority for Biden. Departing for Mississippi to see the aftermath of tornadoes in the state, Biden told reporters, "Let him go". On a diplomatic visit, vice president Kamala Harris echoed his statements from Zambia with president Hakainde Hichilema. The European Union and NATO demanded Gershkovich's release. The United States sanctioned the FSB and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on April 27 for detaining American citizens.

The Wall Street Journal wrote that it stands in solidary with Gershkovich and his family. The editorial board of The New York Times—who employed Gershkovich from 2016 to 2017—expressed reproach. A coalition of leaders of dozens of media organizations condemned the arrest in a letter sent to Antonov, as did a separate statement from The New York Times, Bloomberg News, Politico, and The Washington Post. Senate leaders Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer released a bipartisan statement condemning his arrest. The House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution calling for the release of American prisoners in Russia on June 13. Former Russia correspondent Alan Philps compared Gershkovich's arrest to Joseph Stalin's censorship of media in the Soviet Union. Conservative columnist Bret Stephens stated that Putin would benefit from reading Gershkovich's works to gain an independent assessment of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Brittney Griner, who was arrested in Russia for carrying hashish oil before being involved in a prisoner exchange with arms dealer Viktor Bout, called for his release.

The arrest of Gershkovich—an esteemed figure among independent Russian journalists—provoked a response from Russian media. In his first story for The Moscow Times in 2019, he brought attention to the non-governmental organization OVD-Info, and relied upon the group mourning Ukrainians killed in the Russo-Ukrainian War. Russia's leading independent journalists published an open letter demanding his release. Mediazona offered live coverage of his arrest on their website. On YouTube, exiled broadcast journalist Maksim Kurnikov noted that Gershkovich's arrest could harm Russia's overview of the war.

Analysis

The Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center's Tatiana Stanovaya [ru; fr] said that Gershkovich's coverage of the war in Ukraine is likely what attracted authorities' attention. Reporters Without Borders' Jeanne Cavalier said the arrest appeared to be "a retaliation measure" that was "very alarm(ing) because it is probably a way to intimidate all Western journalists that are trying to investigate aspects of the war on the ground in Russia".

Former US ambassador in Russia John J. Sullivan said the arrest was likely a preliminary move in a desired prisoner exchange and that the fact Gershkovich had been charged with espionage rather than a lesser crime indicated the desired swap would likely be for a high-profile prisoner.Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov suggested that Gershkovich may be part of a prisoner swap. The Kremlin stated that Russia and the United States were in contact over a prisoner swap on July 3.

Former CIA Moscow station chief Daniel Hoffman agreed the timing of the arrest was "probably not a coincidence" and was likely ordered to gain leverage in a prisoner exchange. Hoffman noted the week before the arrest, the U.S. Department of Justice had indicted Sergey Cherkasov for espionage, asserting Cherkasov was a Russian spy enrolled at Johns Hopkins under the guise of being a student from Brazil. In March 2023, Cherkasov was imprisoned in Brazil for falsifying Brazilian documents, but the U.S. could seek to have him extradited in order to facilitate a prisoner swap. Cavalier also hypothesized Russia would use Gershkovich as a "bargaining chip" for Cherkasov. Another exchange, hypothesized by Andrey Zakharov, would be Gershkovich and Paul Whelan for Maria Mayer and Ludwig Gisch, who were arrested in Slovenia on charges of spying for Russia in January 2023. The Moscow Times affirmed that speculation centered on Cherkasov, Mayer, and Gisch. President Joe Biden told reporters that he was "serious" about a prisoner swap at a news conference in Helsinki, Finland. Gershkovich's parents told ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos that Biden would "do whatever it takes" to release him.