Wall Street Journal publisher Almar Latour called on President Biden to “push extra hard” for a prisoner exchange or deal that will force Russia to release his paper’s reporter Evan Gershkovich — one year after his “wrongful detention” on charges of espionage.
“This is my message to the Biden administration: Push extra hard to get a swap done, to get a deal done now before Evan gets stuck in a much longer cycle,” Latour said on “Fox & Friends” Friday morning.
“He’s been incarcerated for a year, a trial at some point will be coming up, and we think that might be in the next few months. And so there’s a window before that trial cycle starts to push extra hard.”
The Journal left most of its front page blank Friday to honor the missing stories from Gershkovich.
Latour added that the paper has been in contact with US officials, who he said were “hopeful” about the reporter’s release.
“Journalism is not a crime, and Evan went to Russia to do his job as a reporter —risking his safety to shine the light of truth on Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine,” Biden, 81, said in a statement on Friday.
“Shortly after his wholly unjust and illegal detention, he drafted a letter to his family from prison, writing: ‘I am not losing hope.’ As I have told Evan’s parents, I will never give up hope either,” he added.
“We will continue working every day to secure his release. We will continue to denounce and impose costs for Russia’s appalling attempts to use Americans as bargaining chips. And we will continue to stand strong against all those who seek to attack the press or target journalists—the pillars of free society.”
Gershkovich, 32, was arrested in Yekaterinburg on March 29, 2023, and later denied bail and ordered by a Moscow court to be held in Lefortovo prison, which typically houses political prisoners, the Wall Street Journal reported.
He has been held pending trial since then — despite no evidence being presented of his alleged espionage — and Biden’s State Department continues to negotiate for his release.
“These charges are bogus, the proceedings are bogus,” Latour told Fox.
“Incidentally it’s all taking pace — other than these hearings that you see — in secrecy,” he said, pointing out that Gershkovich’s attorneys are forced by the Kremlin to sign non-disclosure agreements that block them from communicating with the Journal.
His parents, Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich, said during a January interview that they receive weekly letters from their son, who celebrated his 32nd birthday in the Moscow prison on Oct. 26.
“It’s hard. But he’s fighting,” Milman said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 17.
In a February interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia was considering a prisoner swap with the US to secure Gershkovich’s release.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) in a joint statement denounced “Putin’s government” for Gershkovich’s “baseless arrest, fabricated charges, and unjust imprisonment.”
“Forty-five years ago, Evan’s parents, Ella and Mikhail Gershkovich, found refuge in the United States after fleeing the Soviet Union,” the Gang of Four said. “Today, Putin is restoring Soviet-style control through repression at home and aggression abroad.”
“On the anniversary of Evan Gershkovich’s captivity, we reaffirm the importance of his work,” they added. “Journalism is not a crime, and reporters are not bargaining chips. The Kremlin’s attempts to silence Evan and intimidate other Western reporters will not impede the pursuit of truth.”
The president and the congressional leaders also called for the immediate release of Paul Whelan, a former US Marine arrested in December 2018 in Russia and charged with spying, as well as other Americans taken hostage or wrongfully detained overseas.
