Evan Gershkovich Will Be Tried Behind Closed Doors: As His Friend, I Call for His Immediate Release

In June 2018, an event took place at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow that seems unimaginable now. International correspondents held their annual party to network with local reporters and discuss the latest news. That summer, Russia hosted the World Cup for the first time, and the city streets  were filled with excited sports fans from around the world, rather than police officers quelling peaceful protests. An illusory sense of freedom hovered in the air.

That’s where I met Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for The Moscow Times at the time. We later became  colleagues, frequently exchanging valuable professional contacts, sharing our experiences from business trips, and congratulating each other on important publications.

One of his reports was particularly personal for me. In 2020, Evan reached out to me about the anti-harassment regulations adopted by Novaya Gazeta, the newspaper I worked for — a groundbreaking move among independent Russian media outlets. I remember that after publishing the article, Evan admitted how emotionally draining the topic was. Yet the same day, he was already off to his next assignment in the Far East, where mass protests were happening. “Good luck! And be careful!” were my last messages to Evan.

I can’t imagine how many times Evan’s friends and family must have told him the same thing after the war in Ukraine began in February 2022. While most independent Russian outlets and foreign bureaus either relocated to safer places or significantly reduced their staff, Evan decided to continue reporting from inside Russia. He was indeed careful, obtaining a visa and press accreditation, as required by the foreign ministry. However, all these precautions don’t guarantee safety in present-day Russia — especially if you’re a reporter from a country that the  Russian government considers an “enemy.”

Evan was on a reporting trip in Yekaterinburg, a city in the Sverdlovsk region 1,000 miles from Moscow, on assignment for The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), when Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) detained him in March 2023. Officials later charged him with espionage. The Kremlin claimed he was “caught red-handed” without providing any more details.

“Vanya and I texted closely in those days. His business trip was about to end, and we discussed how he would come to see me in Berlin,” recalls journalist Masha Borzunova, a close friend of Evan’s whom she affectionately calls by his Russian nickname. “And then one morning I saw the news. I felt as if a black hole had formed inside me as I watched online how someone very important was taken away from my life.”

Evan became the first American journalist arrested in Russia on espionage charges since the Cold War. His predecessor, Nicholas Daniloff, a reporter for U.S. News & World Report, was detained for 13 days in 1986 before being released under house arrest and eventually allowed to leave the Soviet Union.

As of today, Evan has spent 453 days in custody.

During the investigation, he was transferred to Lefortovo, Moscow's most isolated pretrial detention center, which houses high-profile inmates whose cases are handled directly by the FSB. Even attorneys find it difficult to reach their clients in Lefortovo, and relatives may not be granted visits for weeks. Every letter must pass through prison censors. Certain topics, involving criticism of Russian politics, must be avoided in correspondence.

Despite these strict rules, Evan has received hundreds of letters from partial people around the world, thanks to his friends.

“We understood that if the FSB pressed charges, it meant we had to brace ourselves for a marathon to support him. We set up a mailbox and invited anyone to write him letters, which we translated into Russian as per prison rules,” Borzunova shared. “A colossal number of people wanted to show their support. At times, we handed him 70 pages of translated letters. This means a great deal to Vanya.”

As of this writing, I imagine Evan is probably being transferred from Lefortovo back to Yekaterinburg where his court trial is set to start on June 26. Russian prosecutors have recently approved his indictment, stating that Evan “gathered secret information” in the Sverdlovsk region about the defense enterprise Uralvagonzavod, a company that produces and repairs military equipment. According to Russian officials, Evan operated on behalf of the Central Intelligence Agency “in compliance with thorough measures of conspiracy.” 

What evidence (if any) the FSB has against Evan is unknown, and the public will most likely not find out in the near future. His trial will be held behind closed doors.

“During all this time, we still don’t know exactly what Vanya is accused of. As someone who knows him, I can say he's not a spy. He’s a journalist who simply did his job — and did it well and honestly. It is no longer a secret that Vanya is just a hostage of the Russian regime,” adds Borzunova.

The US government, Evan himself, and his employer have vehemently denied any espionage charges. Emma Tucker, WSJ editor-in-chief, called the allegations “bogus and baseless” and criticized the entire trial process as “a travesty of justice” should a guilty verdict be ruled.

“We, the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents, abhor the illegal and unjustified captivity of Evan Gershkovich,” said Nancy Prager-Kamel, the Chairwoman of the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the United States (AFPC-USA). “The capture and unlawful incarceration of a recognized innocent journalist is a microcosm of both the criminal and politically vindictive nature of Putin’s Russia."

American and Russian authorities have made several attempts to negotiate prisoner swaps. Russian President Vladimir Putin previously made it clear that his country seeks to release Vadim Krasikov, an ex-FSB officer and hitman serving a life sentence in Germany for killing a Chechen dissident in 2019. The swap could potentially involve Paul Whelan, a former US Marine, also imprisoned in Russia for espionage, and Alsu Kurmasheva, a US-Russian journalist detained last year on charges widely seen as politically motivated. Last week, Russia claimed it is awaiting a response from Washington to its proposals for a possible swap, but no public actions have been taken so far.

If nothing is done, Evan faces up to 20 years in a Russian prison. As his friend and colleague, I am calling for his immediate release.