August 01, 2024
Donat Sorokin/TASS;Sipa USA
Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who has been wrongfully imprisoned by Russia since March 2023, will be released as part of a prisoner swap with the U.S. The photo above shows Gershkovich, whose parents live in Philadelphia, in July.
Russia is expected to release Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich as part of a prisoner exchange with the United States, Germany and three other countries, a Biden administration official told news outlets.
Gershkovich, 32, whose parents and sister live in Philadelphia, has been imprisoned by Russia since March 29, 2023. He was accused of espionage – allegations that he, his family, the Journal and U.S. officials have denied.
U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelan and Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American radio journalist, also are among 24 prisoners in Russia being released in exchange for eight Russian nationals.
U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), released a statement acknowledging Gershkovich's release. His parents live in Boyle's district.
"After 16 grueling months, I am thankful that Evan is finally coming home," Boyle said. "My constituents Mikhail and Ella Gershkovich have been forced to endure the unimaginable, and I hope that their family can now begin to heal. I am grateful for the tireless effort by the Biden-Harris administration to bring Evan and Paul home. Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan's unjust imprisonment as hostages is yet another sobering reminder of how evil the Putin regime really is."
Gershkovich, a Princeton native, joined the Wall Street Journal is January 2022 and primarily covered Russia. He previously had worked for The New York Times from 2016 to 2017, The Moscow Times from 2017 to 2020 and Agence France-Presse from 2020 to 2022.
Gershkovich was on assignment in Yekaterinburg, Russia when he was detained by agents from Russia's Federal Security Service in a steakhouse on March 29, 2023. Gershkovich appeared in a Moscow court and was accused of collecting state secrets from Russia for the U.S. military, an accusation that he denied.
On July 19, after several court appearances and a denied appeal, a Russian court found Gershkovich guilty of spying and espionage and sentenced him to 16 years in prison. Gershkovich was the first American journalist to be detained in Russia since the Cold War.
Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who was discharged for bad conduct in 2008, was arrested in Moscow by the FSB on Dec. 28, 2018. He was attending the wedding of another former Marine. He was charged and convicted of spying – charges that he, his family and the U.S. government denied. Whelan was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Pennsylvania Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman, both Democrats, and U.S. Reps. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) and Guy Reschenthaler (R-Pa.), called on the Biden administration to include Marc Fogel in the prisoner exchange. Fogel, a teacher from the Pittsburgh area, has been imprisoned in Russia since August 2021, when he was arrested for carrying a half ounce of medical marijuana in the country.
"Marc is a Pennsylvania teacher with severe health issues who has been unjustly imprisoned in a Russian prison for three years, and as the congressional members who represent Marc and his family, we have been pushing to bring Marc home as quickly as possible," the lawmakers said. "As negotiations are ongoing with the Russian Federation, we respectfully request that any potential prisoner swap include Marc Fogel."
