Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been sentenced to 16 years in a Russian prison on espionage charges.
Russian prosecutors had asked for an 18-year sentence but received a 16-year term instead. Gershkovich’s fate was sealed early Friday morning.
Evan Gershkovich is an American journalist for The Wall Street Journal who reported on Russia. In March 2023, he was arrested by Russia’s Federal Security Service on espionage charges.
This was the first time since the Cold War that a journalist from an American news outlet was charged with spying in Russia.
Gershkovich stayed in Russia after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. After his arrest, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Gershkovich was arrested by Russia’s FSB intelligence agency in Yekaterinburg during a reporting trip in March of the previous year. The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. government, and many international media organizations have denied the charges against him.
Russian prosecutors have accused Evan Gershkovich of spying on military equipment for the CIA, a claim his newspaper has called “transparent lies.” They insist Gershkovich was doing his job as a reporter.
The Wall Street Journal has called for Gershkovich’s immediate release, saying that his detention has been unjust. They continue to push for his freedom, noting that “journalism is not a crime.”
Gershkovich’s trial started in June with a one-day, closed-door hearing in Yekaterinburg, about 900 miles from Moscow. After the second day of hearings on Thursday, the court said it had finished looking at all the evidence and would hear the final arguments on Friday.
Thursday’s court hearing lasted over five hours. Only one witness, Vyacheslav Vegner, a lawmaker from Putin’s ruling party, testified. Vegner had previously said he spoke with Gershkovich before his arrest. He mentioned that Gershkovich asked about public support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Wagner mercenary group, and local industrial changes.
Gershkovich has been in detention for 15 months. The quick pace of the trial has led to speculation that Russia might be rushing to convict him for a possible prisoner exchange. In the past, Russia has usually waited for a conviction before making such trades.
Another American journalist, Alsu Kurmasheva, who works for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, has been in detention in Russia for nine months. She is facing charges related to her reporting on the war in Ukraine.
The U.S. accuses Russia of taking Gershkovich and other Americans as hostages using false charges, aiming to use them as political leverage. Recently, Russia has arrested several U.S. citizens, like WNBA star Brittney Griner, and later exchanged them for Russians held in Western countries on serious charges.
Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have hinted that Russia wants to trade Evan Gershkovich. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed this week that talks about an exchange are ongoing with the Biden administration.
He noted that the intelligence agencies of both countries have been in touch to explore possible exchanges, per an agreement made by Presidents Putin and Biden in June 2021.
Meanwhile, former US Marine Paul Whelan is still in a Russian jail.
Whalen was in Moscow giving a tour of the Kremlin museums to wedding guests when he was detained by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). The FSB claimed he was caught “during an act of espionage.”
Whelan’s Russian lawyer said he was arrested after accidentally receiving a memory stick with state secrets. He was charged with espionage, which he denies.
In June 2020, Whelan was convicted of spying and sentenced to 16 years in prison. He is still in jail after he was overlooked during two high-profile prisoner exchanges.
In one exchange, the U.S. released Konstantin Yaroshenko, a drug smuggler, in return for former Marine Trevor Reed. In another exchange, the Biden administration swapped Viktor Bout, a well-known Russian arms dealer, for WNBA star Brittney Griner.
It seems Russia has no boundaries in arresting Americans to use as bargaining chips. It’s a global game played by a weak American President who doesn’t understand the rules.
