Russian Prosecutor's Office Says Imprisoned American Journalist Evan Gershkovich Will Be Tried

The Russian Prosecutor's Office announced on Thursday, June 14, that Evan Gershkovich, an American journalist imprisoned for over a year on espionage charges, will be tried in Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Oblast. According to this agency, the indictment against the reporter for the American newspaper 'The Wall Street Journal' has been completed, and his case has been referred to the Sverdlovsk District Court, located 1,400 kilometers east of Moscow. The Russian Attorney General's Office stated in a statement that Mr. Gershkovich is accused of 'collecting classified information' about Uralvagonzavod at the behest of the CIA. Uralvagonzavod is a facility for the production and repair of military equipment in the Sverdlovsk region. This is the first time that the Russian Prosecutor's Office has explicitly announced the charges against this American journalist. No evidence has been provided to substantiate the accusations against Mr. Gershkovich, and the start date of the trial has not been announced. The Moscow court rejected the imprisoned American journalist's appeal. Lynn Tracy, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, who has regularly visited Mr. Gershkovich in prison and attended his hearings, described the charges against him as a 'fantastical story' and stated, 'Russia uses American citizens as hostages to achieve political goals.' Evan Gershkovich was arrested in March 2023 while reporting from Yekaterinburg and has been accused of espionage for the U.S. He, The Wall Street Journal, and the U.S. government have denied the charges, with Washington considering him one of the American citizens who have been illegally imprisoned. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) stated at the time of Mr. Gershkovich's arrest that he was collecting state secrets at the direction of the U.S. government, but no evidence was provided to support this claim. Uralvagonzavod is a state-owned factory producing tanks and rail cars in Nizhny Tagil, located about 100 kilometers north of Yekaterinburg. This industrial center gained fame in 2011 and 2012 as one of the key bases supporting Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia. Mr. Putin has mentioned the possibility of a deal to exchange Evan Gershkovich for a Russian citizen imprisoned in Germany over the past year. It seems he is referring to Vadim Krayevsky, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2019 for the murder of a Chechen citizen in Georgia in Berlin. Last week, Vladimir Putin, in response to a question from the Associated Press regarding Evan Gershkovich's situation, said, 'The U.S. government has taken active steps to ensure his freedom.' The Russian president also stated at a press conference with international media in St. Petersburg, 'The release and exchange of prisoners is not done through mass media but requires a clear, calm, and professional approach.' He indirectly referred to the possibility of prisoner exchanges, adding, 'Undoubtedly, any case of prisoner release must be bilateral.' If convicted of espionage, Evan Gershkovich faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. He is the first American journalist to be arrested on espionage charges since the Cold War ended. The last case of an American journalist being arrested on such charges was Nicholas Danilov in 1986. Although media freedom and the activities of foreign journalists in Russia have been severely restricted following the military invasion of Ukraine, the arrest of Evan Gershkovich on espionage charges has caused significant surprise and concern among foreign media.