Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is on trial on spying charges in Russia. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich went on trial in Russia on June 26 on spying charges, which he denies. Here is a short guide to his case.

Who is Evan Gershkovich?

Mr. Gershkovich is a 32-year-old American who grew up in New Jersey, the son of Soviet parents who emigrated to the United States in 1979. He joined the Wall Street Journal in January 2022 and was among the small number of Western journalists to continue reporting from inside Russia after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of that year.

When and why was he arrested?

The FSB security service arrested him on March 29, 2023, in a steakhouse in the city of Yekaterinburg, where he was on a reporting trip.

He was accused of spying, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years.

Prosecutors allege he was gathering information on the orders of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency about Uralvagonzavod, a Russian company that makes tanks for the war in Ukraine. Since his arrest, he has been held for nearly 16 months in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison.

Mr. Gershkovich and the Wall Street Journal vehemently protest his innocence. They say he was doing his job as a reporter accredited by Russia’s Foreign Ministry to work there. The WSJ says the trial is a sham and a guilty verdict is a foregone conclusion.

What does the Kremlin say?

The Kremlin says the case is a legal, not a political, matter but has alleged from the start — without presenting evidence — that Mr. Gershkovich was caught “red-handed”.

President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is open to a possible prisoner exchange with the United States involving Gershkovich, and that contacts have taken place but must remain secret.

What is the U.S.’ stand?

Washington says Russia is using Mr. Gershkovich as a bargaining chip and should immediately free him and Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who was convicted in 2020 and is serving a 16-year sentence for spying. It has designated both men as “wrongfully detained”.

What will the trial look like?

The trial is taking place behind closed doors, meaning that the proceedings are secret and the lawyers must sign non-disclosure agreements. No press, family members or U.S. embassy officials are allowed inside, although two U.S. consular staff travelled to Yekaterinburg for the start of the case and had brief access to Mr. Gershkovich before it began.

Wednesday’s hearing concluded after several hours and the next one is on August 13, an indication that the case will drag on for a number of months.

Evgeniy Smirnov, a lawyer specialising in cases of treason and espionage, said there was no precedent in Mr. Putin’s Russia for a defendant in a spy case to be acquitted in court.

But if Mr. Gershkovich is found guilty, it could clear the way for a deal on a prisoner swap — something that Russia said, very early on in his case, could only happen after a trial had taken place.

Judge Andrei Mineyev is hearing the case. He is the son of a policeman and has spent three decades working in the legal system. He is also presiding over the treason trial that opened this month of Ksenia Karelina, a U.S.-Russian dual national accused of donating funds to the Ukrainian armed forces.

In a 2021 interview, he said he had only overseen “three or four” acquittals in his career. “The system is organised in such a way that, ideally, cases against innocent and uninvolved persons do not get to court at all. That’s why the percentage is so small. There is nothing wrong with that,” he said.

Evan Gershkovich. File
| Photo Credit: AFP

Russia will hold the espionage trial of detained U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich, who denies charges of collecting secrets for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), behind closed doors later this month, a court in city of Yekaterinburg said on June 17.

Evan Gershkovich was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) on March 29, 2023, in a steak house in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on charges of espionage that carry up to 20 years in prison.

“According to the investigation authorities, the American journalist of The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Gershkovich, on the instructions of the CIA, in March 2023, collected secret information in the Sverdlovsk region about the activities of the defence enterprise JSC NPK Uralvagonzavod for the production and repair of military equipment,” the Sverdlovsk Regional Court said.

“The process will take place behind closed doors.” The first hearing is scheduled for June 26,” the court said.

Russia has said Mr. Gershkovich was caught “red-handed” and the FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said he was trying to obtain military secrets. Mr. Gershkovich, the first American journalist to be detained on spy charges in Russia since the Cold War over three decades ago, denies the charges.

The White House has called the charges “ridiculous” and President Joe Biden has said Mr. Gershkovich’s detention is “totally illegal”. The Wall Street Journal denies he is a spy and has called for his immediate release, as has his family.

A picture taken on July 24, 2021 shows journalist Evan Gershkovich.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who has spent a year behind bars in Russia, is awaiting a trial on espionage charges the White House says are fabricated but could still see him jailed for decades.

His arrest in March 2023 on charges of spying — the first such charge against a Western journalist since the Soviet era — showed that the Kremlin was prepared to go further than ever before in what President Vladimir Putin has called a “hybrid war” with the West.

Russia has kept information about his case classified, sharing no details since his arrest in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on March 29, 2023.

The U.S.-born son of Soviet emigres covered Russia for six years as the Kremlin made independent, on-the-ground reporting increasingly dangerous and illegal.

The Wall Street Journal and the White House vehemently deny Russia’s accusation, which they see as a false pretext to secure the release of Russians in custody in the U.S.

Mr. Putin said last month that he would like to see Mr. Gershkovich released as part of a prisoner exchange, but cautioned certain “terms” were being discussed.

The 32-year-old, who has been remanded in custody until at least the end of June, faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.

Mr. Gershkovich had carried on reporting from across Russia, even after dozens of other foreign correspondents left over Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine.

Mr. Gershkovich reported extensively on how ordinary Russians experienced the Ukraine conflict, speaking to the families of dead soldiers and Putin critics.

Breaking stories and getting people to talk was becoming increasingly hard, Mr. Gershkovich told friends before his arrest.

But as long as it was not impossible, he saw a reason to be there.

Washington:

President Joe Biden said on Friday the U.S. will impose costs for Russia’s “appalling attempts” to use Americans as bargaining chips in a statement to mark the one-year anniversary of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich’s arrest in Russia.

Gershkovich, 32, became the first U.S. journalist arrested on spying charges in Russia since the Cold War when he was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) on March 29 last year.

“As I have told Evan’s parents, I will never give up hope either. We will continue working every day to secure his release,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House that called the journalist’s detention “wholly unjust and illegal.”

“We will continue to denounce and impose costs for Russia’s appalling attempts to use Americans as bargaining chips,” Biden added.

The Kremlin said on Thursday complete silence was needed when it came to discussions about possible prisoner exchanges involving Gershkovich.

The reporter, the Journal and the U.S. government all deny he is a spy. The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said Gershkovich had been trying to obtain military secrets.

He has now spent a year at Moscow’s high-security Lefortovo prison, which is closely associated with the FSB, and his detention has been extended to June 30.

Top leaders in the U.S. Congress from both parties including Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson also issued a joint statement on Friday calling the journalist’s arrest baseless and unjust.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Gershkovich’s arrest had made Russia’s already restrictive media landscape “more oppressive.”

In their statements on Friday, Biden and Blinken also condemned the detention of Paul Whelan, an ex-Marine arrested in Moscow in 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in prison on spying charges in 2020. He and the U.S. government deny the charges.

“To Evan, to Paul Whelan, and to all Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad: We are with you. And we will never stop working to bring you home,” Biden said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)