AFPC-USA Speaks Out Against Russia's Decision to Extend Detention of Alsu Kurmasheva

The following is a statement from the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents (AFPC-USA) in response to the decision by Russian authorities to extend the detention of Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Tatar-Bashkir Service.

The statement is as follows:

The Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in the USA (AFPC/USA) strongly condemns the recent decision by a Russian court to extend the outrageous detention in Russia of American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva until April 5 and calls upon the U.S. government to accelerate its efforts to demand her release.

Kurmasheva has been unjustly detained by Russia since she was arrested and jailed October 18, 2023, during a visit to Russia to visit her elderly ailing mother. Kurmasheva is a journalist with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty for more than two decades. Most recently she has worked with RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir Service and lives in Prague with her husband and two children. She holds U.S. and Russian citizenship.

The AFPC/USA calls on the Biden Administraiton to take all measure possible to obtain her release, including having her designated by the U.S. Department of State as “wrongfully detained,” which will allow more itensive efforts to free her. For more than 100 days, this American citizen has been forbidden  phone calls with her family and denied visits from officials with the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. 

In addition to the unjustified hardship for Kurmasheva and her family, this unjust and deplorable imprisonment represents a broader threat to press freedom for journalists in Russia and must be condemned in the strongest terms. The AFPC/USA joins other journalists, human rights groups and members of civil society in calling on President Joe Biden to speak out more publicly and take more determined measures to demand and obtain her release and return.