Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich remains in a Russian prison a year after ‘unlawful detention'

Evan Gershkovich, an American reporter for The Wall Street Journal, remains in a Russian prison a year after he was detained in Russia on an espionage allegation that he, the newspaper he works for and the American government have all vehemently denied.

On the anniversary of his detainment, his family is speaking to the media, hoping to shine more light on his plight in the hope that his release can be secured.

Gershkovich, 32, was in Moscow City Court on Tuesday, when a judge extended his detention until June 30, the fifth extension as he awaits trial. Photos released by the court show him smiling from the glass defendant’s box.

His parents, Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich and older sister Danielle Gershkovich talked with NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell this week.

The family was excited when he moved to Russia in 2017 and his parents visited him there, they said. 

“We saw Russia through his eyes,” his mother said. “We were with such a great guide to a new Russia that we didn’t experience before.”

Then came the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Gershkovich moved from Moscow, where he had lived and reported for six years, to London but continued to report in Russia. 

Of his arrest while on a reporting trip to Central Russia, his father said, “It was numbing. It’s hard to feel anything. It’s hard to think about anything.” 

Now, his mother said, they are keeping themselves optimistic. “That’s the best way we can cope with it,” she said. “No pessimism.” 

There remains hope that Gershkovich will be released, and the most likely route appears to be through a prisoner swap, as was done to secure the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner in late 2022.

Here's what to know about Evan Gershkovich's case:

Who is Evan Gershkovich?

Gershkovich, the son of Jewish immigrants who left the Soviet Union in the 1970s, was raised in Princeton, New Jersey and graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine.

He reportedly learned to speak Russian at home, although Gershkovich said he learned most of his Russian while living in Moscow.

He was a reporter for The New York Times, the independent news outlet Moscow Times, and wire service Agence France-Presse before joining The Wall Street in 2022. 

What was Evan Gershkovich reporting on when he was arrested?

Before his arrest, Gershkovich had been covering the war in Ukraine.

Gershkovich, who was accredited by Russia’s Foreign Ministry to work as a journalist, was arrested on March 29, 2023, while on a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg in central Russia.

At the time he was detained, he was reporting on the Russian mercenary military organization Wagner, a Russian reporter familiar with his plans told NBC News.

The state-funded private military group played a large role in the Ukraine invasion and whose soldiers have repeatedly been accused of war crimes that include murder, torture and rape of civilians in areas it has occupied.

The group was also behind a failed rebellion against the Russian defense ministry that included a march toward Moscow in 2023.

Why does Russia say Evan Gershkovich was arrested?

He was accused of espionage by the Federal Security Service, or FSB, which alleged he was collecting “information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

Russia has not released evidence for its allegation against Gershkovich and most of the court proceedings have been closed.

He was denied bail and is currently being held in Lefortovo prison, where political prisoners are often detained.

What is the U.S. government doing to free Evan Gershkovich?

Gershkovich is the first U.S. journalist to be held in Russia on an accusation of espionage since the end of the Cold War. 

President Joe Biden has called for his release, and U.S. diplomats are nearly always present when legal procedures happen in his case.

The United States government has publicly said he is not a spy and has never worked for the government and it has declared him to be "wrongfully detained," a terminology that essentially means that America sees him as a political hostage.

Outside the courtroom on Tuesday, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, called the accusation against him “fiction.”

“Evan’s case is not about evidence, due process or rule of law,” she told journalists. “It is about using American citizens as pawns to achieve political ends.”

In a statement, The Wall Street Journal said, “It’s a ruling that ensures Evan will sit in a Russian prison well past one year. It was also Evan’s 12th court appearance, 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. Journalism is not a crime, and we continue to demand his immediate release.”

What has Vladimir Putin said about Evan Gershkovich's detainment?

After the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny in an Arctic penal colony in February, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he had agreed with the idea of a prisoner swap involving Navalny, Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, another American imprisoned in Russia.

Like Gershkovich, Whelan has been designated as wrongfully detained, meaning the U.S. government is committed to working for his release.

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