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Journalism of Courage
Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, is among two dozen detainees from the United States, Russia and a number of their allies freed on Thursday in the biggest prisoner exchange since the Cold War.
He was detained in Russia on March 29, 2023, where he was on a work trip to Urals city of Yekaterinburg on charges of espionage. Gershkovich, 32, was sentenced to 16 years in a high-security penal colony in July 2024, after a hurried, secret trial. He was moved to Yekaterinburg in June 2024 to be tried on a false accusation of espionage. He previously had been held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, where Russia has held political prisoners since the days of the Soviet Union.
Gershkovich is the American-born son of Soviet-era emigres to the US, and learned Russian from his parents and built a career as a journalist focused on the region. He joined the Journal in January 2022 and before that reported from Moscow for Agence France Press and the Moscow Times.
He was detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service despite full press credentials from Russia’s foreign ministry. The FSB said he was collecting secret information about Uralvagonzavod, a company that manufactures battle tanks. The charges of of espionage made him the first American detained on such an allegation since the Cold War.
He had more than a dozen closed hearings over the extension of his pretrial detention or appeals for his release. He was taken to the courthouse in handcuffs and appeared in the defendants’ cage, often smiling for the many cameras.
The State Department declared him wrongfully detained and President Joe Biden promised his family he would bring Evan home.
During his time in jail, Gershkovich, a literature and philosophy graduate, kept himself going by reading Russian classics such as Vasily Grossman’s “Life and Fate”, an epic novel set during World War Two. In his cell, he followed events via a TV which showed only Russian state television channels. In his regular correspondence with the outside world, Gershkovich poked fun at his life in jail. His chief request remained gossip from friends and colleagues.
Gershkovich is among the 26 prisoners released in a the Russia-US prisoner exchange.
Meanwhile, the White House has unveiled the names of individuals involved in the recent East-West prisoner exchange. Returning to the United States from Russia are three U.S. citizens—Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, and Alsu Kurmasheva—along with one legal permanent resident, Vladimir Kara-Murza.
In return, twelve German nationals and Russian political prisoners will be repatriated to Germany. The list includes Dieter Voronin, Kevin Lick, Rico Krieger, Patrick Schoebel, Herman Moyzhes, Ilya Yashin, Liliya Chanycheva, Kseniya Fadeyeva, Vadim Ostanin, Andrey Pivovarov, Oleg Orlov, and Sasha Skochilenko.
Eight individuals are heading back to Russia: Vadim Krasikov (from Germany), Artem Viktorovich Dultsev and Anna Valerevna Dultseva (from Slovenia), Mikhail Valeryevich Mikushin (from Norway), Pavel Alekseyevich Rubtsov (from Poland), Roman Seleznev, Vladislav Klyushin, and Vadim Konoshchenock (all from the United States).
Additionally, a source familiar with the exchange confirmed that two children, who were not prisoners, were also part of the swap.
