Russian trial begins for U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich

A closed trial for Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, began on Wednesday in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Gershkovich has been detained for more than a year.

Who is Evan Gershkovich? Gershkovich is a 32-year-old U.S. citizen. He worked as a reporter on assignment in Russia covering Russia’s war with Ukraine. Gershkovich was not working covertly and he had press credentials from the Russian Foreign Ministry, his biography on The Wall Street Journal’s website states.

Why was Gershkovich detained? Gershkovich was charged with espionage. The trial was closed, though officials from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow were allowed into the court briefly before the trial began. A Wednesday statement from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow said Gershkovich is innocent, and that the Russian government has failed to substantiate the charges against him. The statement added a call for the Russian government to stop using Gershkovich as what the embassy characterized as a tool for political bargaining.

In a 2022 tweet, Gershkovich described reporting in Russia as the pattern of watching people you know end up in jail for years.

Talks between the United States and Russia regarding a possible prisoner swap involving Gershkovich have thus far been unsuccessful.

Dig deeper: Read Christina Grube’s Sift report about Russia’s threat of consequences against the United States after an attack in Crimea.