Sister of Evan Gershkovich discusses fight to free him from Russian detention

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• William Brangham:

  One year ago, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was detained by Russian police. He has been in detention ever since on espionage charges, an accusation that the U.S. and his employer strongly deny.

  Nick Schifrin has more about the efforts to free him.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Last November, the United States made Russia an offer, a trade for two Americans the U.S. labels wrongfully detained, former Marine Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich. Russia rejected it.

  The administration says it continues to try and find a deal that Russia might accept. In the meantime, Whelan and Gershkovich wait. This week, Gershkovich appeared in court, and, for the fifth time, a judge extended his detention. He is accused of acting on behalf of the U.S. government to collect state secrets, the first American journalist facing Russian espionage charges in more than 35 years.

  The U.S. strongly denies the allegations, as U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy said this week.

  Lynne Tracy, U.S. Ambassador to Russia: The accusations against Evan are categorically untrue. They are not a different interpretation of circumstances. They are fiction.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Gershkovich moved to Russia in 2017 to work for The Moscow Times, before joining The Journal in 2022. He loved his work. He loved traveling through Russia, and he has shown remarkable resilience, strength, and even good humor throughout this ordeal.

  I'm now joined in the studio by Evan's sister, Danielle Gershkovich, and Almar Latour, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal and CEO of Dow Jones.

  Thank you very much, both of you. Welcome back to the "NewsHour."

  Danielle, let me start with you. How's your brother doing?

  Danielle Gershkovich, Sister of Evan Gershkovich: I'm so amazed by him.

  He still is himself. I look at the courtroom footage and photos, and I recognize all his little mannerisms. And he writes me letters. We write letters to each other about once a week, and they're still so full of humor. It's still my little brother. We get to correspond.

  But I know he works incredibly hard to keep his spirits up. He has a very strict routine for himself. He reads, he writes, he meditates, and he works really hard to be able to, yes, stay…

• Nick Schifrin:

  To stay healthy, yes.

• Danielle Gershkovich:

  Yes. Yes.

• Nick Schifrin:

  What has he managed to tell you about the conditions that he faces?

• Danielle Gershkovich:

  Well, I know that he is in a small cell, and he gets about an hour exercise a day.

  And he's cut off from his family, from his friends, from the world, and his job that he loves so much.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Almar Latour, the conviction rate in Russian courts is higher than 90 percent. Is it possible for Evan to receive a fair trial, or will his release necessarily come from some kind of swap?

• Almar Latour, Dow Jones CEO/The Wall Street Journal Publisher:

  I'm afraid that the conviction rate for espionage cases is actually even higher than that.

  And so, this trial, as you heard Ambassador — the ambassador say just now, this is fiction. And so the farcical performance that's taking place would not stop at a pretrial detention. I assume that that would continue through trial as well, if a trial indeed takes place, and that we still hope that something can happen before a trial would start.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Do you refer to Evan as a hostage? Do you consider him a hostage of the Russian government?

• Almar Latour:

  Absolutely.

  We're dealing with a department within the State Department called the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs that is quarterbacking at least some of the efforts to release Evan. And that name says it all. But even beyond that designation by the government, this is a hostage affair.

  We have seen that confirmed again and again, just the transactional nature of how even Putin himself has addressed this. It keeps underscoring that this is a game and Evan is a pawn in a geopolitical play.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Danielle, you're here in D.C. You're not meeting any officials this week, but do you believe the Biden administration is doing all it can to release your brother?

• Danielle Gershkovich:

  President Biden made a promise to our family. This is personal for him. He's going to do whatever it takes. And we know the White House is taking this very seriously. And there's a team of experts working around the clock.

  But, unfortunately, it's an opaque case. So we just have to continue to have faith in the government. And, in the meantime, we can just continue to keep the spotlight on Evan, so he's not forgotten.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Almar Latour, let me ask you about some of those details. It is opaque, and this is a government-to-government issue.

  But, as I said at the top, there has been a prisoner swap on the table that the U.S. offered to Russia. Putin has said that he's still open to agreement. The U.S. has said it is still trying to find an agreement. Has the administration informed you about any efforts that it is still trying to make to get this swap done?

• Almar Latour:

  We talk to the administration as often as we can.

  And they have been, I must say, quite accessible throughout this very, very long year. And even this week, there was contact, and there will be ongoing contact. And so we get updates on how attempts at freeing Evan evolve all the time.

  And this goes with ups and downs, as with any sort of complicated endeavor. And so we have come close at certain points, and we hope, one of these days, we can cross that threshold. I think the administration has done a remarkable job of showing its engagement, showing its commitment, and making a public commitment, including to Danielle and her family.

  But, ultimately, this is a binary outcome. Either Evan is imprisoned or he's free. And so we cannot judge ourselves until we get to that point of getting Evan out of prison.

• Nick Schifrin:

  You said there were contacts this week. Can you reveal any more details about those contacts?

• Almar Latour:

  No, not specifically. By that, I only mean to say that there are regular interactions and they take place at regular intervals just to make sure that we understand how we can be helpful and that we understand that the government is indeed focused on Evan, as it should be, not just with public commitments, but also with actions.

  And we have full faith that that will be seen through to its hopefully natural conclusion, which will be his release.

• Nick Schifrin:

  The Journal does not have anyone on the ground in Russia. Many news organizations does not have anyone on the ground in Russia. What do you think the impact of that is?

• Almar Latour:

  Well, it's the desired impact from an autocratic regime that holds its own people and the truth in extreme disregard.

  So there's been a very active, proactive discouragement of proper journalism for the better part of two decades. That's only intensified in the past couple years and really has reached a crescendo in the past year. There are numerous journalists, Russian and foreign journalists, imprisoned in Russia. There are two American journalists currently imprisoned there.

  And the signal is, the truth is dangerous to the Putin regime, and so don't try to offer the truth.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Danielle, let me end back to you.

  I asked about how Evan was doing. How are you doing? How's your family doing?

• Danielle Gershkovich:

  I'm sure you can imagine this has been a very difficult year for us, filled with a lot of uncertainty.

  But whatever we're going through, I know it's harder for Evan, and we just take so much inspiration from his strength. And we have no other choice. We have to keep going. We have to stay positive, optimistic. And I know we're going to get him home.

• Nick Schifrin:

  And, finally, what makes him a good journalist?

• Danielle Gershkovich:

  I just have to smile, because it's my brother. I love him so much. And he's just such a passionate, curious, driven person.

  He loves travel. He loves writing. All of these things came together, and he realized that this is his passion. And we're so proud of him that he got to do that. I hope he can get back to it.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Absolutely. We all do.

  Danielle Gershkovich, Almar Latour, thank you very much to you both.

• Danielle Gershkovich:

  Thank you so much.

• Almar Latour:

  Thank you so much.