President Trump expressed doubts about the journalist being released during the current administration, saying, ‘Biden has dealt with Putin very poorly.’
Former President Donald Trump said he would secure the release of a Wall Street Journal reporter who has been detained in Russia for over a year on spying charges, accusations that the U.S. government has dismissed.
Evan Gershkovich, 32, was arrested on March 29 last year on espionage charges by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). He was detained in Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains, approximately 900 miles east of Moscow, on an official trip allegedly reporting on the Wagner mercenary group.
At the time of arrest, FSB said “it was established that Evan Gershkovich, acting at the request of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.”
The reporter is presently being held at Lefortovo Prison in Moscow, a former KGB jail, and is awaiting trial.
The Wall Street Journal has vehemently denied the espionage charges leveled against Mr. Gershkovich, saying he was on a “reporting assignment” in the country. The U.S. government insisted the charges were baseless and said the reporter was “wrongfully detained.”
In an April 30 interview with Time magazine, President Trump called Mr. Gershkovich a “brave young man” and said he would “certainly call” on Russia to release the reporter.
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“I would certainly call. I’ll call for it right now in your story if you‘d like,” President Trump said. “Here’s a difference between me and Biden: I’ll get him released. He'll be released. Putin is going to release him.”
“I think Biden has dealt with Putin very poorly. Putin should never have gone into Ukraine. And he didn’t go in for four years with me. I get along very well with Putin, but the reporter should be released and he will be released. I don’t know if he’s going to be released under Biden.”
President Trump called Mr. Gershkovich’s detainment a “terrible precedent” and said he was surprised the reporter was not yet released. President Biden has called for the journalist’s release multiple times but Moscow has rejected his proposals.
With his arrest, Mr. Gershkovich became the first American journalist detained on spying charges in Russia since the Cold War. If convicted, he could face a prison term of up to 20 years.
According to a website created by Mr. Gershkovich’s friends, he is the son of Soviet-born Jewish parents who immigrated to the United States and settled in New Jersey.
He moved to Russia in 2017 to work at The Moscow Times. Mr. Gershkovich joined The Wall Street Journal in January 2022 and returned to Russia to cover the country’s invasion of Ukraine when he was arrested.
In the Lefortovo Prison, Mr. Gershkovich has little to no access to the outside world, the website stated, adding that the journalist’s trial will be conducted behind closed doors.
American ‘Pawns’
In March, a Moscow court extended Mr. Gershkovich’s stay in jail for an additional three months until June 30. The U.S. ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, was present at the court hearing. Speaking to reporters, she reiterated that accusations leveled against the journalist were “categorically untrue.”
“They are not a different interpretation of circumstances. They are fiction,” she said. “No justification for Evan’s continued detention, and no explanation as to why Evan doing his job as a journalist constituted a crime. Evan’s case is not about evidence, due process, or rule of law. It is about using American citizens as pawns to achieve political ends.”
In April, a Russian court denied Mr. Gershkovich’s appeal against pre-trial detention. His trial date is yet to be decided.
During a February interview with Tucker Carlson, Russian President Vladimir Putin said a deal to release the journalist could be made with the United States.
He hinted that Washington may have to secure the release of Vadim Krasikov, a 56-year-old FSB colonel, in exchange. Mr. Krasikov is presently serving a life sentence in a German prison for the murder of a Chechen war veteran.
U.S. negotiations for releasing Mr. Gershkovich began soon after his arrest. In December last year, the U.S. State Department revealed they had made a “significant proposal” to secure the release of Mr. Gershkovich and a former U.S. Marine held in Russia on espionage charges. However, Russia refused to accept it.
“That proposal was rejected by Russia. [We] shouldn’t have to make these proposals; they never should have been arrested in the first place. They should both be released immediately,” a State Department spokesperson told reporters.
Russia has engaged in prison swaps before, arresting Americans in order to secure the release of Russian criminals.
In December 2022, the Biden administration negotiated the release of WNBA basketball player Brittney Griner. She was arrested in February 2022 while playing in Russia after authorities found she was in possession of vaping cartridges containing cannabis oil, a substance that is illegal in the country.
Ms. Griner explained that cannabis was prescribed to manage chronic pain, but was sentenced to nine years in prison.
In exchange for Ms. Griner, the United States arranged for the release of convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout, also known as the “Merchant of Death.” He was convicted back in 2011 and was serving a 25-year prison sentence.
At the time of his conviction, Preet Bharara, then-U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said that Mr. Bout was ready to sell an arsenal of weapons “to terrorists for the purpose of killing Americans.”
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