“We will continue to work every day to secure his release. We will continue to expose and impose costs for Russia's terrible attempts to use Americans as bargaining chips. And we will continue to vigorously resist all those who seek to attack the press or targeting journalists, the pillars of free society": Joe Biden renews his commitment to free Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich, on the first "painful" anniversary of his "unjust and illegal detention" in Russia for espionage and seven months after the American elections. A commitment also extended to former marine Paul Whelan (16 years for espionage) "and to all Americans held hostage or unjustly detained abroad". “Journalism is not a crime, and Evan was in Russia doing his job as a reporter, risking his safety to shed light on the truth of Russia's brutal aggression against Ukraine,” the president stressed.
A voice, that of Biden, which seals a vast chorus of solidarity, condemnations and appeals. Starting from those of the WSJ, which paid homage to its journalist in its paper edition by leaving much of the front page blank under the eloquent opening headline 'His story should be here. One year in Russian prison. A year of stolen stories, stolen joys, stolen memories. The crime: journalism'. The only first articles concern Gershkovich, the other US hostages and the threats of authoritarian regimes to the free press. In these 12 months the newspaper has done everything to keep the story alive, promoting various initiatives (today the invitation to post with the hashtag #IStandWithEvan), keeping an updated column, publishing comments and letters from readers. Or to the readers. Like those of director Emma Tucker and the reporter's family. Tucker highlighted how Gershkovich's case is also an example of the growing threats to free information, with a record of more than 520 journalists detained worldwide. "We will continue to fight", promised the reporter's family, confessing however that they have lived these 12 months "with bated breath".
"People are not bargaining chips. Russia should end the practice of arbitrary detention of individuals as political leverage and should immediately release Evan and Paul," Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned.
Putin is "restoring Soviet-style control through repression at home and aggression abroad", echoed the 4 leaders of Congress in a rare bipartisan note.
Even if work continues on a prisoner exchange, as the White House has reiterated, the road does not seem short or easy after the recent extension of the reporter's detention until June. Putin is unlikely to give Biden a success before the elections, unless he gets another success to flaunt. As happened with the basketball player Brittney Griner, who was exchanged for the dangerous Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Now the former KGB officer wants one of his men back, Vadim Krasikov, the alleged Russian 007 convicted and detained in Germany for the 2019 assassination in broad daylight in Berlin of a former pro-independence Chechen commander. The negotiation therefore also involves the involvement of a third country. In the meantime, in a Russian prison, even more so if it is the infamous Lefortovo, where Gershkovich is locked up 23 hours a day in a tiny cell, anything can happen. As demonstrated by the Navalny case, who died in suspicious circumstances on the eve of an alleged prisoner exchange mediated by the oligarch Roman Abramovich.
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