WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich hits 250 days in Russian detainment

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has now spent 250 days in a Russian prison, marking a somber milestone for the journalist who the U.S. says is being wrongfully detained amid high tensions with Russia during the war in Ukraine.

Emma Tucker, the editor-in-chief of the Journal, said in a joint statement with Almar Latour, the publisher of the paper, that Monday marked “250 days of wrongful detention by Russia.”

“While these moments help us collectively express our support for Evan and to highlight his case, we must also convey our outrage and continue to call for his immediate release,” they wrote. “The passage of time dictates that we work harder than ever to sustain our efforts until Evan is free.”

Staff at the Journal are continuing to call for Gershkovich’s release and have organized campaigns across social media to spotlight the issue.

And a Journal article published Monday marked Gershkovich’s 250 days of detention with a story about how the journalist’s friends have stayed connected with him and supported him throughout his detention.

A Moscow court last month extended Gershkovich’s pre-trial detention through January. The reporter, who covered Russian affairs for the Journal, was detained in March.

Gershkovich is being held in Moscow’s Leftorvo prison as he awaits trial on espionage charges. He has been accused of collecting military secrets on behalf of the U.S. government.

Gershkovich, his family, the Journal and the Biden administration have all denied the charges and consider him wrongfully detained, as do press freedom groups.

Washington has held talks with Russian officials on a potential prisoner swap for Gershkovich, but a deal has yet to materialize.

Gershkovich’s parents, Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich, told Fox News on Tuesday that it was hard to believe 250 days had already passed.

“Evan already missed his birthday celebration, Thanksgiving and the holidays that are coming up,” said Mikhail Gershkovich.

Milman added that “Evan is in the fort of a prison, the prison that designed to isolate and break you down.”

“Evan is in a very hard condition. And he is fighting very hard to stay mentally fit, to stay physically fit,” she said. “And he wrote to me in the letter, every day it’s like swimming against the stream.”

— Updated at 3:13 p.m.