Independent Russian journalists sign letter supporting Evan Gershkovich

4 April 2023, 09:33 GMT

Independent Russian journalists have called on Russia’s authorities to release Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal who was recently arrested in Yekaterinburg on “espionage” charges.

“On 30 March, the FSB announced the arrest of our colleague, The Wall Street Journal correspondent, US citizen Evan Gershkovich. The secret service claims that the journalist was doing espionage, and the Kremlin says that he was ‘caught red-handed.’ We, independent Russian journalists and representatives of civil society, consider such accusations unfounded and do not trust them.
The FSB claims that Gershkovich allegedly acted on instructions from the United States and collected information that is state secret about the activities of a Russian military industry enterprise. However, this statement is not based on anything: it is suggested that we simply take the word of the state security investigation.
In the same way, we were offered to believe the FSB during the treason case of our colleague Ivan Safronov. Thanks to a series of journalistic investigations, the details of the ‘treason’ Safronov was accused of became public knowledge, and we consider it proven that Ivan was sentenced to 22 years in prison solely for his journalistic work. The two cases appear similar, which makes charges filed against Evan Gershkovich very doubtful.”

The letter was signed by Ivan Kolpakov, chief editor of Meduza, Galina Timchenko, the publisher of Meduza, Tikhon Dzyadko, chief editor of TV Rain, Mikhail Zygar, an author, Sergey Smirnov, chief editor of Mediazona, Lev Gershenzon, the founder of The True Story, Pavel Kanygin, chief editor of Prodolzhenie Sleduet, Maxim Kurnikov, leader of the Echo project, Olesya Gerasimenko of BBC in Russian, Yegor Skovoroda of Mediazona, Dmitry Kozelev, chief editor of Republic, Sergey Parkhomenko, a journalist, and the Popular Politics project.

Earlier, US President Joe Biden and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for the release of Gershkovich. In addition, a joint statement demanding his release was published by Bloomberg, NYT, The Washington Post, Politico and the Committee to Protect Journalists.

“Gershkovich’s unwarranted and unjust arrest is a significant escalation in your government’s anti-press actions. Russia is sending the message that journalism within your borders is criminalised and that foreign correspondents seeking to report from Russia do not enjoy the benefits of the rule of law,” reads the statement.

The Wall Street Journal denies the FSB accusations and demands the immediate release of the journalist. Gershkovich was hired by the WSJ in January 2022.

Gershkovich was detained in Russia’s Yekaterinburg on Thursday. It is said that Gershkovich was collecting opinions of Russians regarding the infamous mercenary Wagner Group. Russia’s law enforcement, however, filed criminal charges against Gershkovich for “espionage”, accusing him of travelling to the city of Nizhny Tagil where the Uralvagonzavod defence industry facility is located.

Evan Gershkovich was born and raised in the US in a Jewish family that traces its origins to the Soviet Union. Evan actively worked in Russia and resided in London lately. Before the WSJ, he worked with AFP, the Moscow Times and the New York Times. He had a Russian visa and was accredited with the country’s Foreign Ministry.