AUGUST 1, 2024:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and Russia have made their biggest prisoner swap in post-Soviet history. Moscow on Thursday released U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich and Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan along with dissidents including Vladimir Kara-Murza in a multinational deal officials say has set two dozen people free. The trade follows years of back-channel negotiations despite relations between Washington and Moscow being at their lowest point since the Cold War after Russia invaded Ukraine. Among those the Russians got back is Vadim Krasikov, who was convicted in Germany of killing a former Chechen rebel in a Berlin park. President Joe Biden is heralding the diplomatic achievement in the final months of his administration.
JULY 19, 2024:
YEKATERINBURG, Russia (AP) — Russian prosecutors on Friday (July 19, 2024) sought a prison sentence of 18 years for Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich as his espionage trial came to an unusually swift conclusion, perhaps clearing the way for a swap between Moscow and Washington.
Closing arguments took place behind closed doors at the trial, where Gershkovich did not admit any guilt, according to the court’s press service. The U.S. government and publishers of The Wall Street Journal have denounced the trial in Russia’s highly politicized legal system as a sham.
Gershkovich, 32, was arrested March 29, 2023, while on a reporting trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg. Authorities claimed, without offering any evidence, that he was gathering secret information for the U.S. — the first American journalist to be accused of espionage since the Cold War.
Gershkovich was in the Sverdlovsk Regional Court for a second straight day Friday for the closed proceedings, where officials said prosecutors requested an 18-year sentence in a high-security prison. A verdict is expected later in the day, according to court officials.
Unlike the trial’s opening on June 26 in Yekaterinburg and previous hearings in Moscow in which reporters were allowed to see Gershkovich briefly before sessions began, there was no access to the courtroom this week and he was not seen, with no explanation given. Espionage and treason cases are typically shrouded in secrecy.
Russian courts convict more than 99% of defendants, and prosecutors can appeal sentences that they regard as too lenient. They even can appeal acquittals.
“Evan’s wrongful detention has been an outrage since his unjust arrest 477 days ago, and it must end now,” the Journal said Thursday in a statement. “Even as Russia orchestrates its shameful sham trial, we continue to do everything we can to push for Evan’s immediate release and to state unequivocally: Evan was doing his job as a journalist, and journalism is not a crime. Bring him home now.”
The U.S. State Department has declared Gershkovich “wrongfully detained,” committing the government to assertively seek his release.
Asked Friday about a possible prisoner swap involving Gershkovich, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to comment.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday at the United Nations that Moscow and Washington’s “special services” are discussing an exchange involving Gershkovich. Russia has previously signaled the possibility of a swap, but it says a verdict would have to come first. Even after a verdict, any such deal could take months or years.
State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel on Thursday declined to discuss negotiations about a possible exchange, but said: “We have been clear from the get-go that Evan did nothing wrong and should not have been detained. To date, Russia has provided no evidence of a crime and has failed to justify Evan’s continued detention.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin hinted earlier this year that he would be open to swapping Gershkovich for Vadim Krasikov, a Russian serving a life sentence for the 2019 killing in Berlin of a Georgian citizen of Chechen descent.
Gershkovich has spent about 15 months in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo Prison.
The Russian Prosecutor General’s office said last month the journalist is accused of “gathering secret information” on orders from the CIA about Uralvagonzavod, a plant about 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Yekaterinburg that produces and repairs tanks and other military equipment.
Lavrov on Wednesday reaffirmed the Kremlin claim that the government has “irrefutable evidence” against Gershkovich, although neither he nor any other Russian official has ever disclosed it.
Gershkovich’s employer and U.S. officials have dismissed the charges as bogus.
“Evan has never been employed by the United States government. Evan is not a spy. Journalism is not a crime. And Evan should never have been detained in the first place,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said last month.
Russia’s interpretation of what constitutes high crimes like espionage and treason is broad, with authorities often going after people who share publicly available information with foreigners and accusing them of divulging state secrets.
Earlier this month, U.N. human rights experts said Russia violated international law by jailing Gershkovich and should release him “immediately.”
Arrests of Americans are increasingly common in Russia, with nine U.S. citizens known to be detained there as tensions between the two countries have escalated over fighting in Ukraine.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Linda Thomas-Greenfield accused Moscow of treating “human beings as bargaining chips.” She singled out Gershkovich and ex-Marine Paul Whelan, 53, a corporate security director from Michigan, who is serving a 16-year sentence after being convicted on spying charges that he and the U.S. denied.
JULY 18, 2024:
YEKATERINBURG, Russia (AP) — Court officials say closing arguments in the espionage trial of U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich will be held Friday (July 19, 2024), as the proceedings picked up speed in a case that has seen the reporter held in pre-trial custody for over a year. The court said Gershkovich attended a trial session for a second day behind closed doors on Thursday. He faces charges that he, his employer and the U.S. government vehemently deny. The 32-year-old Gershkovich was arrested on March 29, 2023, while he was on a reporting trip. Authorities claimed, without offering any evidence, that he was gathering secret information for the U.S.
FEBRUARY 9, 2024:
UNDATED (AP)- Russian President Vladimir Putin used an interview (Feb. 6, 2024) with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson to push his narrative on the war in Ukraine, urge Washington to recognize Moscow’s interests and press Kyiv to sit down for talks. Putin repeated his claim the full-scale invasion in February 2022 — which Kyiv and its allies describe as an unprovoked act of aggression — was to protect Russian interests and prevent Ukraine from posing a threat to Russia by joining NATO. He said Russia stands ready to negotiate a prisoner exchange for Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was jailed in March 2023 on espionage charges that he denies.
SEPTEMBER 20, 2023:
MOSCOW (AP) — Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich appeared in a Moscow court, seeking release from jail on espionage charges, but it declined to hear his appeal and returned the case to a lower court due to unspecified procedural violations. Before the closed session, he appeared in the glass defendants’ cage, smiling at fellow journalists. Gershkovich was detained in March 2023 in Yekaterinburg, east of Moscow. There was initial confusion when the state news agency Tass reported the court had rejected his appeal, but it later said the case was sent to the lower court. The decision means Gershkovich will remain jailed until Nov. 30, 2023, unless his appeal is heard in the meantime and he is released — an unlikely outcome.
APRIL 18, 2023:
UNDATED (AP)- A Russian judge has ruled that an American journalist arrested on spying charges as part of a sweeping Kremlin crackdown on press freedom amid the war in Ukraine will remain jailed. Evan Gershkovich and the U.S. government vehemently deny the allegations. The Wall Street Journal reporter is the first U.S. correspondent since the Cold War to be detained in Russia on spying allegations. His arrest rattled journalists in the country and elicited outrage in the West. Russia’s Federal Security Service detained the 31-year-old in Yekaterinburg in March and accused him of trying to obtain classified information about a Russian arms factory. A judge with the Moscow City Court rejected the reporter’s appeal of his detention on Tuesday (April 18, 2023), ruling that he must stay in jail until at least May 29, 2023.
