Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, falsely accused of espionage, is indicted in Russia

Russian prosecutors said they have approved an indictment of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, falsely accusing him of espionage and referring his case to a trial court.

US journalist Evan Gershkovich in a Moscow court in April 2023. Picture: AFP

Russian prosecutors said they have approved an indictment of Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter held in Russia for over a year, falsely accusing him of espionage and referring his case to a trial court, where he could face a series of secret, closed-door hearings.

The 32-year-old reporter, whom the U.S. government deems wrongfully detained, has been held in Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison since March 29 last year, on an allegation that he, the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny. At the time of his detention, Gershkovich, who is a U.S. citizen, was accredited to work in Russia.

In a statement Thursday, Russian authorities falsely said that Gershkovich was gathering information about a defense contractor on behalf of the Central Intelligence Agency. In fact, Gershkovich was on a reporting assignment for the Journal.

Russian authorities haven’t publicly presented evidence to back up their allegations. At a trial, Gershkovich would enjoy little, if any, of the due process he would be afforded in the U.S. or other countries.

In a statement, Dow Jones CEO and Wall Street Journal Publisher Almar Latour and Wall Street Journal Editor in Chief Emma Tucker demanded Gershkovich’s immediate release and urged the Biden administration “to redouble efforts to get Evan released.” “Evan Gershkovich is facing a false and baseless charge. Russia’s latest move toward a sham trial is, while expected, deeply disappointing and still no less outrageous,” they said. “Evan has spent 441 days wrongfully detained in a Russian prison for simply doing his job. Evan is a journalist.

The Russian regime’s smearing of Evan is repugnant, disgusting and based on calculated and transparent lies. Journalism is not a crime. Evan’s case is an assault on free press.” Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated in February that he would be open to a prisoner swap for Gershkovich if Moscow and Washington reached an agreement. He didn’t specify whom Moscow was demanding in return for Gershkovich. But he made clear reference to Vadim Krasikov, a Russian now serving a life sentence in Germany for gunning down a Chechen émigré in a Berlin park in 2019.

The Biden administration has worked for Gershkovich’s release. Earlier this year, the Biden administration explored a possible proposal to free Gershkovich and Whelan. At a meeting in Washington, President Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz discussed proposing to Russia a complex prisoner swap that would involve trading Whelan and Gershkovich for Krasikov.

The two leaders discussed the possibility of also requesting that Russia free Alexei Navalny, a dissident and strident critic of Putin who was imprisoned in an Arctic gulag.

However, the White House never had a chance to make a formal proposal to Moscow. Word of the discussions reached the Kremlin via a private intermediary, according to people familiar with the matter. On Feb. 16, one week after the Oval Office meeting, Navalny died suddenly.

The detentions of other Western nationals in Russia have prompted concern that Moscow is pursuing a campaign to collect prisoners it can use as bargaining chips to expedite the return of Russian convicts held in the West. Russian officials have denied that Moscow is using foreigners to gain potential political benefits or concessions from the West.

Gershkovich has been confined 23 hours a day to his cell in Lefortovo prison, meeting only with his lawyers or embassy officials between his occasional court appearances.

The trial is expected to be held behind closed doors because authorities say it involves classified material.

Gershkovich was detained by the country’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, in March last year when he was on a reporting assignment in Yekaterinburg, around 900 miles east of Moscow. A trial is likely to be held in that city.

US journalist Evan Gershkovich, arrested on espionage charges, stands inside a defendants' cage in Moscow in April.

Russia is also holding Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, 47, a dual Russia-U.S. citizen, who was detained last year in the city of Kazan while visiting her ailing mother.

She was initially held on an allegation that she had failed to register as a foreign agent, a designation Russian authorities have extended to hundreds of organizations and individuals, often as a way of discrediting them and highlighting their links abroad. She was subsequently charged with spreading false information about the Russian military in relation to a book she helped edit that criticizes the invasion of Ukraine.

Kurmasheva has denied the allegations against her through her husband and her legal team.

Paul Whelan, another U.S. citizen and a former Marine, has been held in Russia since 2018. After a trial that was held entirely in secret, he was convicted in 2020 and is serving a 16-year sentence. The U.S. considers Whelan to be wrongfully detained. Whelan, his family and the U.S. government say his conviction was based on false allegations.

The Wall Street Journal