Negotiator: Efforts ‘working’
Evan Gershkovich marks oneyear behind bars in a Russian jail Friday, but a government negotiator remains hopeful, saying “what we’re doing seems to be working,” when it comes to bringing him home.
A Moscow court extended the Wall Street Journal reporter’s detention by three months on Tuesday, as he awaits trial on dubious espionage charges, but the government remain hopeful they can broker a deal.
Roger Carstens, special presidential envoy for hostage affairs of the US, told CNN: “What we’re doing seems to be working. If we can find that one offer that’s going to work on the Russians, that’s going to bring Evan and Paul [Whelan, another US citizen detained in Russia] home.”
‘Pessimism will kill’
Gershkovich, now 32, was arrested by Russia’s Federal Security Service for allegedly violating the country’s anti-espionage laws during a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg in March 2023.
Russian authorities have accused the US citizen of “acting on the instructions of the American side” and collecting state secrets about the military.
Gershkovich and his employer have vehemently denied the allegations, and the US government has declared him to be “wrongfully detained.”
He is being held at Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, which is notorious for its harsh conditions, and will now remain in custody until at least June 30.
Separately, former Marine Whelan was sentenced to 16 years for espionage in 2020, charges which he and US authorities have denied.
Gershkovich’s family are also trying to remain calm and positive, with his sister Danielle Gershkovich saying she takes comfort from seeing he is OK at his court appearances.
“And the letters, that keeps me going. We still write to each other about once a week,” she said. “My letters are getting longer and longer. It’s a chance for me to feel like I’m sitting with him, talking to him. Every time a letter comes, it feels like Christmas morning.”
Gershkovich’s parents, Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich, have said they are trying to remain optimistic their son will be released, fearing “pessimism will kill” their spirit — as holidays pass while he is behind bars.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has insisted that Gershkovich
was “caught red-handed when he was secretly getting classified information.”
But so far, the Russian government has not publicly presented any evidence to support its claims against Gershkovich.
US Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy attended Tuesday’s court hearing and reiterated that “the accusations against Evan are categorically untrue.”
“This verdict to further prolong Evan’s detention feels particularly painful,” she said in a statement, noting the anniversary of his arrest.
Gershkovich has appealed for release several times over the the last year, but has each time had those appeals denied, and his pre-trial detention extended.
‘Journalism no crime’
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said Wednesday: “Evan’s tragic case shows that American adversaries prey upon the innocent to execute their authoritarian foreign policy objectives. The Biden administration must do all it can to secure his immediate release.”
The WSJ said Wednesday’s ruling “ensures Evan will sit in a Russian prison well past one year.”
The outlet also slammed the “baseless proceedings that falsely portray him as something other than what he is — a journalist who was doing his job.”
“He should never have been detained,” the statement said. “Journalism is not a crime and we continue to demand his immediate release.”
He is the first Western journalist to be held on espionage charges since the Soviet Union fell.