Russia is trying to use American concerns about the Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich, who is detained in Moscow on espionage charges, to influence the newspaper's reporting. This is shown by a report by the state news agency Ria Novosti.

Friedrich Schmidt

Political correspondent for Russia and the CIS.

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If the New York newspaper continues an "activity not related to journalism" by publishing "disinformation" about Russia, "it will mean that the editorial board is not interested in Gershkovich's fate at all," Ria quoted an unspecified "informed source in Moscow" as saying on Friday evening.

In recent days, the newspaper has "published a number of articles with false allegations concerning Russia," the "interlocutor" also said. Examples were lacking.

The choice of words is reminiscent of the language used by Russian power representatives for cases in which the Moscow Ministry of Defense deviates from representations of the Ukraine war. Thus, the unofficial, but barely disguised threat to harm Gershkovich is aimed at the entire coverage of the "Wall Street Journal" on the war.

Arrested on a research trip

The 31-year-old journalist was arrested in Yekaterinburg at the end of March during a research trip, transferred to Moscow and detained in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center, which is used by the FSB. The espionage allegations can be traced back to this secret service.

With regard to Gershkovich himself, who is duly accredited by the Russian Foreign Ministry, representatives of power have already spoken of the reporter's work having "nothing to do with journalism", as it was now called with a view to the "Wall Street Journal" as a whole.

Before Gershkovich's arrest, Russia had not acted in this way against the correspondents accredited in the country. The last such case took place in 1986. The American correspondent in question at the time was quickly exchanged for a Soviet spy.

Even now, based on the coverage of Russian state media, among other things, it is suspected that Gershkovich, a son of Soviet émigrés, should be exchanged for Russians imprisoned in the United States or in a third country.

Parental visit

One of them is Sergei Cherkasov, who was convicted as a spy in Brazil. The Wall Street Journal has just reported that the government in Brasília must decide between conflicting extradition requests from Moscow and Washington; the result could shape an exchange deal for the liberation of Gershkovich. The latter is the declared goal of the American government. With Friday's RIA report, Russia is further increasing the pressure.

Also on Friday, a Moscow court extended Gershkovich's pre-trial detention for another three months. For the appointment, the parents of the journalist, Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich, had traveled to Moscow and were able to see their son there, according to the "Wall Street Journal" in the country's usual defendant cage. The mother said they dressed finely to show her son that they could withstand the pressure. They were also encouraged by how good their son looked: he was pale, but smiled and relaxed.

Gershkovich has been working in Moscow since 2017 for changing English-language media. The Wall Street Journal, for which he has been working since January 2022, wrote that it was Gershkovich's parents' first trip to Moscow since visiting their son in 2018. At that time, the journalist showed his parents the "new Russia". Ella Milman says in a video documentary of the "Wall Street Journal" that she said to her son in 2018: "This is the country I left, and this is the country you love."