US Demands Reporter Evan Gershkovich’s Immediate Release

• As Moscow court extends his detention order

The United States (US) is calling for the immediate release of Wall Street Journal reporter, Evan Gershkovich, detained in Russia on espionage charges since the end of March 2023.

The White House’s National Security spokesman John Kirby has told CNN (Cable News Network); “He (Gershkovich) shouldn’t be detained at all. Journalism is not a crime. He needs to be released immediately.”

“We’re still going to work very, very hard to see if we can get him home with his family where he belongs. US officials are still pressing for consular access to Gershkovich directly with the Russians”, Kirby said, adding that; “There are no grounds for denying consular access… We really want to get that consular access going.”

Meanwhile, a Moscow court, during a brief hearing on Tuesday, extended the detention of Evan Gershkovich, ordering that he should remain in jail until 30 August 2023.

Russian news agencies report that Gershkovich’s pre-trial detention was initially set to expire next week and he is being held in the notorious Lefortovo prison in Moscow and could face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.

Gershkovich, 31, is the first American journalist to be detained in Russia on spying charges since the end of the cold war. He was detained in the Urals city of Ekaterinburg while there on a reporting trip at the end of March.

Russia’s FSB Security Service claimed Gershkovich was collecting state secrets about Russia’s military-industrial complex. Gershkovich and the Wall Street Journal have denied the charges.

An open letter to Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, signed by more than 300 foreign correspondents who have worked in Russia, read: “We have no doubt that the only purpose and intention of his work was to inform his readers about the current reality in Russia.”

It has been widely speculated that Russia arrested Gershkovich with the hope of trading him for Russian intelligence officers or other persons of interest to Moscow arrested in Western countries, but so far there appears to have been little progress in discussions over a possible exchange.

Last month, Joe Biden praised the “absolute courage” of Gershkovich and said he was “working like hell” to secure his release. – With The Guardian report