Languishing in Moscow’s harsh Lefortovo prison, 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has no easy way out, considering the U.S. and Russian Federation have practically broken off diplomatic relations. President Joe Biden, 80, funding of the Ukraine proxy war against the Kremlin has all but wrecked U.S.-Russian relations for the foreseeable future. Wall Street Journal, a Rupert Murdoch publication, has no clout to get Gereshovich out, used as a pawn or bargaining chip by 70-year-old President Vladimir Putin. No one told Biden, now concluding his trip to the Vilnius, Lithuania NATO summit, to fund a proxy war against the Russian Federation. Putin invaded Ukraine Feb. 24, 2022 to protest the U.S. supplying Ukraine with cash-and-lethal weapons to battle the Kremlin. Putin tired to get Biden, months before the conflict, to negotiate a new Ukraine security arrangement.
Gershovich finds himself caught in a geopolitical vise with the U.S. supplying Ukraine unlimited cash-and-arms to battle the Kremlin. Putin and the Kremlin are not in the mood to cut the U.S. a deal on prisoner swap involving Gershkovich. WNBA star, 32-year-old, Brittney Grinter, was incarcerated for 10 months before the White House managed to get her out Dec. 8, 2022, in a prisoner swap with 56-year-old notorious Russian arms smuggler Viktro Bout. Conditions for a prisoner swap today have deteriorated more with Biden committing himself at the NATO summit to supply cash-and-arms to Ukraine, despite not offering Ukraine NATO membership. Biden told Zelensky membership was not relevant because he was receiving all the cash-and-arms needed to defend his country. Whether all the cash-and-arms can oust the Russian military from Ukraine is anyone’s guess.
Gershkovich was arrested March 29 in Yekaterinburg in Siberia working on a story for the Wall Street Journal. Whether credentialed or not by Moscow authorities, Wall Street Journal brass knew the risks of sending a reporter into Russia’s hinterlands, given Biden’s active proxy war against the Kremlin. How the Journal would not have issued a travel warning to Gershkovich is anyone’s guess. State Department issued travel warning Jan. 23 to the Russian Federation. Why the Wall Street Journal didn’t call Gershkovich back to the States or reassign him to a safer place isn’t known. What’s known is that he was arrested March 29 in Siberia and charged with spying. Wall Street Journal denies Gershkovich was a spy but, whatever the denials, he’s been charged and jailed by Russian authorities. Given the deteriorated U.S.-Russian relations, it going to be difficult to get another prisoner swap.
In Finland for his last stop before returning to Washington, Biden expressed his interest in getting Gerskovich out of Russian prison. “I’m serious on a prisoner exchange,” Biden said. “And I’m serious about doing all we can do to free Americans being illegally held in Russia or anywhere else for that matter, and that process is underway,” Biden said, referring to back-channel talks to put together a Brittney Griner-type prisoner swap to get Gershkovich out of prison. Biden acts like he has normal relations with Moscow, when it’s anything but normal. Funding Ukraine’s proxy war against the Kremlin, supplying Kiev advance lethal weapons, puts the U.S. essentially at war with the Russian Federation. Biden wants to support Ukraine’s sovereignty but hasn’t accepted that he’s wrecked decades of diplomacy and détente with the Russian Federation to help Ukraine.
Wall Street Journal didn’t heed State Department warnings about travel to the Russian Federation. If the State Department issued a Jan. 23 travel warning in Russia, why did the Wall Street Journal endanger Gershkovich’s life sending him on a fact-finding mission to Siberia? Gershkovich faces arraignment Aug. 30 on spying charges, likely to held over to trial at some future date. Wall Street Journal and U.S. State Department are helpless trying to get him out. When the U.S. had favorable relations with Russia under former President Donald Trump, there’s a good chance Trump could have gotten Gershkovich out. But with U.S.-Russian relations at post-WW II lows under Biden, he’s made prisoner exchanges or humanitarian cooperation next to impossible. Gerskovich languished in Russian prison without any real prospects of getting out because of Biden’s poor foreign relations.
Gershkovich was the first U.S. journalist arrested in Russia since 1986 when U.S. News and World Report Moscow journalist Nicholas Daniloff was arrested by the KGB. Showing how things have deteriorated, Daniloff was released in prisoner swap in 20 days, exchanged for an employee of the Soviet Union’s New York mission. Gershkovich sister Danielle shared her anguish at a National Press Club event in Washington. “I just try to take it day-by-day. It still feels unreal sometimes. For my parents, it’s a full-time job,” Danielle said. No one at the National Press Club said a thing about the current state of U.S.-Russian relations, making it too dangerous to send correspondents to the Russian Federation. Wall Street Journal management is responsible for sending Gershkovich into harm’s way. If the State Department issues a travel warning Jan. 23, why did the Wall Street Journal ignore it?
About the Author
John M .Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
