Arrested inYekaterinburg by Russia’s FSB Security Service Mach 19, 31-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has had his pretrial detention extended until Aug. 30, a helpless victim of deteriorated relations with the Russian Federation. When President Joe Biden, 80, decided to join Ukraine’s war against the Kremlin, Biden all but destroyed decades of post-WW II diplomacy and détente, ending U.S. and Russian cooperative relations. Biden ended decades of diplomacy by multiple generations of U.S. presidents from President Harry Trump to current time all because of the Ukraine War. Biden’s decision to fund a proxy war against the Kremlin using Ukrainian troops has been the worst foreign policy blunder in U.S. history. Russia is now U.S. mortal enemy, not a cooperative partner on the world stage. So any American detained in Russia now has zero leverage.
When Biden was able to get WNBA player Brittney Griner out of a Russian penal colony, things looked up. Griner was arrested Feb. 17, 2022 at Moscow’s Shermetyevo Airport, eventually released Dec. 8, 2022 in a prisoner swap with 56-year-old “merchant of death,” arms-smuggler Viktor Bout. When it comes to espionage charges, the U.S. government has more experience with 53-year-old former Marine and security executive Paul Whelan who’s been detained since 2018. White House officials have zero leverage while Biden fights his proxy war with the Kremlin. Wall Street Journal officials demanded the Gershkovich be released, denying he was a spy, but a dutiful reporter roaming about the Russian countryside. Journal officials had no explanation why Gershkovich was in Yekatersinburg, Siberia. Like the White House, Journal officials have no clout to win Gershkovich’s release
Held in the utlra-sterile Lefortovo prison, Gershkovich told CNN that he remained optimistic, despite his prolonged detention. Journal officials called Lefortovo a “sterile facility carefully engineered to make its prisoners feel abandoned,” something no doubt Gershkovich feels while he awaits his arraignment Aug. 30. Biden has put the U.S. on a war footing without committing U.S. troops to the Ukraine War, other than in an advisory capacity. Russia’s Criminal Procedure Code, whatever it’s worth, allows detainees can be kept pretrial for up to 12 months, not looking good for Gershkovich. Espionage trials in particular are heard behind closed doors, not subject to public exposure. White House officials have zero leverage with Moscow, given the state of war between the White House and Kremlin. Gershkovich finds himself caught in a geo-political vise with his country at war with Russia.
After Griner’s Dec. 8, 2022 release, Whelan finds himself, like Gershkovich, stuck in limbo. Biden can’t have it both ways, expecting the Kremlin to work on prisoner swaps, while, at the same time, prosecuting a bloody proxy war against the Russian Federation. Russian President Vladimir Putin, 70, sees the Ukraine War as between the U.S. and Russia, not Ukraine, despite fighting battles on Ukrainian soil. If Biden wants to give Whelan, Gershkovich or any other U.S. detainee a chance to get out, he needs to end his proxy war against the Kremlin. Deciding at the G7 to arm Kiev with F-16 fighter jets escalates the war, not moving it to the peace table. Biden and Ukraine’s 45-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky show no interest in working on peace proposals from France, China, Brazil and South Africa. Keeping the war going makes getting out detainees next to impossible.
When it came to Griner, Russia saw an opportunity to spring a known Russian arms smuggler Viktor Boust out of a U.S. prison. Gershkovich and Whelan have little to no chance while Biden fights his proxy war against the Kremlin of getting out. Unlike Griner who was charged with drug possession, Gershkovich and Whelan deal with espionage charges something far more difficult to disprove. Whatever the charges, the only way to get Americans out of Russian detention is by cooperative relations with Russia, something that can’t happen while Biden fights proxy war with the Kremlin. After Griner was released Dec. 8. 2022, Whelan told CNN he had little hope that he would get the same treatment. Griner was an unending source of bad publicity for the White House with top NBA stars, like Stephen Curry, taking up her case. Biden’s proxy war against the Kremlin makes diplomatic relations impossible.
Ending the Ukraine War should be the highest priority for the White House heading into the 2024 presidential election. With Ron DeSantis joining forces with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, it’s likely DeSantis will come out forcefully against the war. DeSantis knows that he’ll face Democrat and GOP war hawks, backing Biden’s Ukraine proxy war. U.S. foreign policy can’t afford for the government to end decades of détente with the Russian Federation, all because of a border dispute between Ukraine and Moscow. If the U.S. didn’t pay for the Kiev government or supply most of the arms to fight the proxy war, it would be easier to reestablish relations with the Kremlin. After Putin offered peace to Ukraine in March 2022 by accepting independence of Donetsk and Luhansk and recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea, Zelensky and Biden opted for war ag2w
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
