Yesterday, in a kangaroo court in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was handed a 16-year prison sentence after a rushed sham trial on espionage charges. The journalist has been held for more than a year since being arrested in March 2023 after arriving in Russia for a reporting trip, held in often deplorable conditions including a stint in a tiny cell in the infamous Lefortovo prison.
The real reason for Gershkovich’s detention is no great mystery. Russian officials and Vladimir Putin himself have been very open about the fact that they envision some sort of prisoner swap deal out of this, no doubt to spring some legitimately convicted spy or arms dealer or other unsavory character from U.S. custody.
That was the goal with WNBA player Brittney Griner, who was detained in February 2022 upon her arrival in Moscow after officials found a vaporizer with less than a gram of medically-prescribed hash oil in her luggage. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to an astonishing nine years in prison.
Less than six months later, Griner was traded in a prisoner exchange for arms dealer Viktor Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death” for his longtime clandestine supply of arms to countries and armed groups under various types of international sanctions.
At least there was some technical offense in Griner’s case, no matter how over-inflated the sentence. With Gershkovich, the Kremlin has been unable to produce any evidence that he engaged in any criminal conduct, much less that he was doing so on behalf of any foreign intelligence. Prosecutors have built insinuations around the fact that Gershkovich had arrived in Russia to poke into a local arms manufacturer, which might raise some questions were he not a respected international journalist for a major news organization.
Journalism is not a crime, yet criminalizing oversight is likely another perceived benefit here for Putin’s security forces. The despot has systematically worked to crush local media and opposition figures, so it stands to reason he’d want to send a shot across the bow to the international media that can still somewhat investigate him and his dealings.
His aim is to make anyone think twice about prying into his corrupt dealings, his disastrous and horrific invasion of Ukraine, his crackdowns on his own population’s rights and freedoms and all else the czar wants to do with impunity.
Gershkovich’s conviction now removes any lingering uncertainty about Russia’s designs, and it allows the defense to appeal. It should, and Russia should take this as a chance to think deeply about its aims here and reverse course on this injustice.
Moscow has done much already to make itself into an international pariah while destroying its economy, civil society and military. Does it really want to become known as a place where entire nationalities can’t freely travel out of fear of arbitrary imprisonment as bargaining chips for a demagogue?
Free Gershkovich now and work to rebuild some credibility on the world stage. We’re not holding our breath, though, which is why the Journal, the global journalism community and the U.S. government must remain firm in continuously making the case that he has done nothing wrong and must be freed, using whatever pressure is available.