LOS ANGELES.–Kept in glass covered cage in a Moscow courtroom, 32-year-old Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gerskovich, looks more for the wear with his head shaved facing an uncertain fate in Russian custody, accused of espionage. Gershkovich was arrested March 29, 2023 by the FSB [formerly KGB] security police in Yekatersinberg, some thousand miles from his Moscow bureau, where he was assigned to cover the effect of the Ukraine War on Russian citizens. Wall Street Journal Editor-n-Chief Emma Tucker called the espionage charges all fabricated by Russian authorities to use Gershkovich as a pawn in any future negotiations with the Russian Federation. “”We’re deeply disappointed that he will have to endure further attempts to discredit him and to paint a picture that is unrecognizable to anyone who knows him. Evan is a journalist, and journalism is not a crime,” said Evan’s family.
FSB officials said Gershkovich was caught spying for the CIA in Yekersinberg, gathering intel on a Russian tank factory or other military installations. U.S. officials say all charges are fabricated with the Wall Street Journal not helping Gershkovitz by denouncing the Russian government. Tucker said it was “jarring to see him in yet another courtroom for a sham trial held in secret on fabricated accusations,” insulting Russian authorities. U.S. officials insulted Russian officials when 32-year-old WNBA start Brittney Griner was convicted of violating Russia’s drug laws for carrying cannabis-laced vape cartridges in her luggage when she traveled to Moscow to play basketball. U.S. officials said Brittney was “unlawfully detained,” something they’re saying about Evan. If Brittney broke strict Russian drug laws possessing cannabis, how is that she was “unlawfully detained?”
Griner was lucky early in the Ukraine War, started Feb. 24, 2022, that a prisoner swap was made for notorious gun-runner Viktor Bout, AKA “The angel of death” for supplying lethal weapons to terrorist groups. Griner was released in the prisoner swap Dec. 8, 2022, when it was not completely clear to the Kremlin that Biden was funding proxy war in Ukraine against the Russia Federation. So, when it comes to a prisoner swap now after Biden signed June 13 a 10-year security pact with Ukraine, guaranteeing over the next 10 years the U.S. funds proxy war against the Kremlin. Not one media outlet, including the Wall Street Journal, says a thing about Biden’s ongoing Ukraine War that serves as a stumbling block to get Gershkovich or other U.S. prisoners like former marine and security executive Paul Whelan out a Russian jail. Whelan has expressed frustration with efforts to get him out.
Wall Street Journal doesn’t help Gershkovich get out of jail when the executive editor insults the Russian government’s criminal justice system. “While we are told he’s doing well given the circumstances, Evan’s wrongful detention continues to be a devastating assault on his freedom and his work and an unfathomable attack on the free press. It’s outrageous that he has already endured 455 days in prison when he never should’ve been arrested,” Tucker said in a statement. Talking about the assault on the Free Press in Russia makes Evan’s plight to get of jail all the more improbable. Tucker should button her lips and let whatever back channels at the State Department work on getting Gershkovich a realistic prisoner swap deal. How do Tucker’s insults about the Russian government help to free her reporter she claims is “unlawfully detained?” If Tucker wanted to be helpful, she’d lobby the Biden White House to resolve the reckless and destructive Ukraine War.
Expressing public outrage over the charges against Gershkovich only make a bad situation worse for the 32-year-old WSJ journalist. “This trial is not about the presentation of evidence, due process or the rule of law. We are talking about the Kremlin using American citizens to achieve political goals,” said Moscow’s U.S. embassy. No one wonders whether the past and current trials against 78-year-old former President Donald Trump fall into the same category of political trials. Paul Whelan, arrested in 2018 and sentenced to 16-years in prison, also shows little hope to getting out anytime soon, even though Biden was able get out Brittney Griner. Things have changed since Griner’s release, with Biden signing on to a 10-year security pack with Ukraine’s 46-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky. Putin sees the conflict as between Washington and the Kremlin.
No matter how much the WSJ or State Department complain about the Russian criminal justice system, it’s not likely to help Gershkovich or any other American held in Russian jails. Condemning the Russian government while Biden funds proxy war against the Kremlin guarantees that the two sides won’t find a deal to win Gershkovich’s release. How does WSJ Editor Emma Tucker help Evan by publicly condemning the Russian government? Tucker never said why Evan was on assignment in Yekatersinberg, 1,000 miles east of WSJ’s Moscow headquarters. Certainly facing Russia justice, the burden of proof for Evan’s innocence remains with him against the FSB. If the WSJ or State Department wants to expedite the release of American prisoners in Russian jails, why would Biden sign a 10-year security pact showing that the U.S. proxy war goes on indefinitely.
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.
