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Cover photo: Journalist Evan Gershkovich appears in court in Yekaterinburg on June 26. Source: Evgenia Novozhenina / Reuters
A Russian prosecutor is seeking an 18-year prison sentence for the U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich of The Wall Street Journal on charges of spying for a foreign power, Reuters reports.
The sentence itself is expected to be announced today after 17:00 local time in Yekaterinburg.
The Sverdlovsk Regional Court completed the review of Gershkovich's case in two sessions, which were heard behind closed doors. Gershkovich pled not guilty to the charges.
According to Russian investigators, Gershkovich had allegedly collected secret information about the work of Uralvagonzavod — one of the world’s largest tank manufacturers — in the Sverdlovsk Region on the instructions of the CIA. He was detained in Yekaterinburg on March 30 last year and subsequently arrested on suspicion of espionage and collecting state secrets.
Prior to his arrest, Gershkovich was working on an article on public attitudes to the Wagner Group in Russia. While in Yekaterinburg, he managed to interview local resident Yaroslav Shirshikov for the piece.
The Insider managed to contact Shirshikov, who detailed what they spoke about:
“We discussed the public's attitude towards [Yevgeny] Prigozhin, the decline in public interest in the [so-called “special military operation”], the history, culture and social and political life of our city. I took him to one of the branches of the Museum of the History of Yekaterinburg, gave him a small tour of the [city] center, showed him our famous public garden, which local citizens had protected from barbaric development. The Russian authorities were not interested in my person.”
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier claimed that Gershkovich was caught “red-handed,” but provided no evidence to corroborate the statement. The Wall Street Journal denies the accusations and has maintained Gershkovich’s innocence. The U.S. State Department has said that the journalist was wrongfully detained, opening the door for the U.S. to negotiate on his behalf.
In an interview with ex-Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson in February this year, Vladimir Putin claimed that Russia was ready to exchange Gershkovich for the FSB-linked hitman Vadim Krasikov, who is serving a life sentence in Germany for the murder of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a former Chechen commander who fought against Russia in the Second Chechen and the Russo-Georgian wars. According to Putin, Gershkovich could be exchanged if there is a “reciprocal movement.” At the same time, Putin also admitted that he is not sure whether the WSJ journalist is indeed a spy.
For more details on the practice of capturing foreign citizens and using them as bargaining chips in prisoner exchanges, see The Insider's April 2023 article “Catch and exchange: Russia’s FSB goes after foreigners.”