As we enter 2024, The future of Ivan Gershkovitch He looked anything but certain. All the Wall Street Journal reporter and his allies saw was indefinite detention at the mercy of an oppressive regime that used him as a high-stakes bargaining chip.
But a year later, Gershkovitch was back home with his family and reporting again. The nightmarish ordeal, which began in March 2023 when the reporter was arrested in Yekaterinburg and falsely accused of espionage, ended in August. After a complex prisoner exchange He, former Marine Paul Whelan and others detained in Russia have returned home for good.
Gershkovitch, now 33, has kept a low profile since returning to the United States, where he was welcomed by his family, President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. But, as he put it, he “never stopped reporting” even while in a notorious Moscow prison for more than a year.
Earlier this month, his name appeared in a file A byline in the Wall Street Journal story About the secret Kremlin spy unit behind his arrest, which was used as a bargaining tool for the eventual release of Russian assassin Vadim Krasikov, among others. The story delved in depth into Russia's shadowy directorate of counterintelligence operations and how it coordinated his 490-day imprisonment.
Evan Gershkovitch, followed by his mother Ella Millman, smiles as he arrives at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Aug. 1, 2024. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)
“It is an absolute pleasure to publish Evan's Byline again,” said Emma Tucker, editor-in-chief of the Wall Street Journal. Fox News Digital. “We have all missed his brilliant reporting and the unique insights he brings to the magazine's coverage.”
Gershkovich's friends at the newspaper and across the media industry worked ceaselessly to keep his plight in the public consciousness. The Biden administration quickly called him “unlawfully detained” after his arrest, and the president mentioned both Gershkovich and Whelan in his 2024 State of the Union address, calling for their return home. As it turned out, while Biden was considering withdrawing from the presidential race in July, he was simultaneously negotiating the deal that would bring the men home soon after.
Gershkovitch himself became a symbol of the human spirit and the consequences of the horrific repression of the press and dissidents in Russia under authoritarian leader Vladimir Putin.
While imprisoned, he showed no decline in his behavior, remaining optimistic according to his friends and family, writing letters, and keeping track of other people's birthdays. He even played a slow-motion game of mail-order chess with his father, who, like his mother, immigrated to the United States from the Soviet Union.
This didn't make matters at all Less difficult for his loved oneswho celebrated the holidays with empty chairs to celebrate their lost friend, someone who just wanted to be a reporter who was turned into a political pawn. Gershkovitch had long nurtured a fascination with Russia and embraced reporting on the country despite its inherent dangers. “Journalism is not a crime” became the unifying slogan, but it seems that was the case in Russia.
Evan Gershkovitch reacts after getting off a plane at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, US, August 1, 2024. (Kevin Mohat/Reuters)
“It was a nightmare for us. One year is a long time for Ivan to spend in prison,” his close friend, Piotr Sauer, a reporter at The Guardian, told Fox News Digital in March, the anniversary of his imprisonment. “We all know that these accusations are completely false and we hope the White House will do everything it can.”
After his pre-trial detention was repeatedly extended, Gershkovitch was finally convicted in July and sentenced to 16 years in a penal colony. This was expected and was actually seen as a way to move things along in the prisoner exchange.
Then news finally came out of nowhere on August 1: An agreement had been reached, and Gershkovitch was finally going home.
Russia and Belarus have released 16 prisoners in an exchange for eight Russians detained in the West. Among the prisoners released by Russia were four Americans, including Gershkovitch and Whelan. Alsou Kurmasheva, another US citizen, and Vladimir Kara-Murza, who holds a green card, were also released.
“Their brutal ordeal is over, and they are free,” Biden said just 11 days after his stunning withdrawal from the 2024 Democratic nomination.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich returned home this year after nearly 500 days in prison on questionable espionage charges in Russia. (Alexander Nemenov / Contributor)
This was cause for celebrationEven those in the media industry who had never met Gershkovitch rejoiced at his release. Staffers prepared champagne in the Wall Street Journal newsroom. “We celebrate with his wonderful family and the reunion of all families today,” wrote assistant editor Paul Pickett, who was tasked by the magazine with working to secure Gershkovitch’s release in any way possible.
“How does it feel to finally be home?” a reporter asked Gershkovich the night he returned to Joint Base Andrews.
He smiled and said, “It's not bad.”
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Journalist never Gershkovitch had something to ask of Putin While filling out an official request for a presidential pardon before his release.
Will he be available for interview?
