Russia has agreed to release two Americans, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and veteran Paul Whelan, in a prisoner exchange deal with the United States government, according to reports.
Whelan is also being freed after years in Russian captivity over false allegations he was operating as a spy.
Gershkovich is being released after nearly 500 days of imprisonment on dubious spying charges in Russia.
Both men are being freed as part of a massive swap of political prisoners and journalists involving the United States and Germany.
Gershkovich, 32, was arrested on March 29, 2023, while reporting on a trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg and accused of espionage.
The Biden administration declared him “wrongfully detained” and The WSJ and the U.S. government both emphatically denied the charges, calling them absurd on their face.
After the reporter’s pre-trial detention was repeatedly extended, he was convicted in a closed court of “gathering secret information.”
He was sentenced to 16 years at a high-security penal colony on July 19.
His conviction was expected and experts and officials repeatedly said his only hope for freedom was a prisoner swap after his court proceedings concluded.
Dow Jones CEO Almar Latour and Wall Street Journal Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker blasted the “sham conviction” in a joint statement.
“This disgraceful, sham conviction comes after Evan has spent 478 days in prison, wrongfully detained, away from his family and friends, prevented from reporting, all for doing his job as a journalist,” Latour and Tucker said.
“We will continue to do everything possible to press for Evan’s release and to support his family,” they continued.
“Journalism is not a crime, and we will not rest until he’s released. This must end now.”
Prior to his conviction, Gershkovich languished for months at the notorious Lefortovo prison in Moscow.
One Russian journalist who was subjected to interrogations there called it a psychologically torturous place meant to make prisoners feel isolated and abandoned.
Gershkovich was the first known Western journalist to be arrested on espionage charges in post-Soviet Russia.
The American-born son of Soviet immigrants, Gershkovich had long nursed a fascination with his parents’ home country.
With stints at The New York Times, Moscow Times, and Agence France-Presse before joining The Wall Street Journal in 2022, Gershkovich developed a reputation as a savvy journalist and made friends around the world.
Those same friends in journalism helped keep his grim ordeal in the spotlight; #FreeEvan hashtags were commonly shared on X and other social media profiles by journalists, and The Wall Street Journal dedicated considerable resources and ink to his plight.
The last time Russia exchanged prisoners with the U.S. was in December 2022, when Moscow freed basketball player Brittney Griner in exchange for arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia for smuggling and possessing cannabis.
Like in Gershkovich’s case, Griner’s harsh sentence was viewed as Russia effectively taking an American hostage to obtain leverage over the U.S.
Griner’s exchange deal was met with a backlash, however, as the Biden admin chose to free the “woke” sports star and leave U.S. Marine veteran Paul Whelen in a Russian gulag.
Whelan was arrested in Moscow on December 28, 2018, which he says he visited for a friend’s wedding.
He was imprisoned on charges of espionage that he has consistently and vehemently denied.
Whelan was sentenced to 16 years in prison in June 2020.
He has been serving that sentence at a remote prison camp in Mordovia, where he does manual labor at the prison’s clothing factory.
Whelan was designated as wrongfully detained by the US State Department in May 2020.
Meanwhile, the consequences and chilling effect on journalism caused by Gershkovich’s arrest and detainment have been far-reaching.
With Western outlets already wary of Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian regime in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Gershkovich’s plight sent a clear message that no reporter was safe from being snatched — or worse.
On Wednesday, Wall Street Journal chief digital editor Grainne McCarthy sent a memo to staffers noting that Gershkovich had been detained for “70 long weeks” and thanked colleagues for continuing to keep Evan’s name at the forefront.
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