The Biden administration formally categorized Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich as “wrongfully detained” in Russia, unlocking federal resources to strengthen U.S. efforts to secure his release.
It allows the State Department to lead efforts to exert pressure for his release, including by monitoring intelligence, working with other countries and fighting for regular consular access. It also enables the government to provide more support and information to the journalist’s family.
The State Department said it would “provide all appropriate support” for Gershkovich, who has been held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison. The Journal, which vehemently rejects the espionage charges against him, says Gershkovich has not yet been allowed to meet with American consular officials from the local embassy.
Although the State Department does not provide direct legal representation to American detainees before overseas courts, the agency’s special presidential envoy for hostage affairs coordinates diplomatic efforts related to Americans deemed wrongfully detained such as Gershkovich.
“Journalism is not a crime. We condemn the Kremlin’s continued repression of independent voices in Russia,” State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said Monday in a statement.
The agency does not disclose exactly how many U.S. citizens it lists as wrongfully detained and defines people in that category somewhat differently from a hostage.
Hostage-taking is considered the “unlawful abduction or holding of a U.S. national against their will by a nonstate actor,” including for conditions such as a ransom. U.S. law, meanwhile, determines wrongful detention based on criteria including whether the person has been arrested in part because of U.S. citizenship or to influence U.S. policy and extract political or economic concessions.
The James W. Foley Legacy Foundation counts 54 Americans as being held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad — many in countries whose governments are not on good terms with Washington.
In the past, some U.S. citizens considered by Washington to be wrongfully detained by a foreign government have been released after negotiations or a prisoner swap.
WNBA star Brittney Griner was released in a prisoner exchange late last year, months after the U.S. government characterized her arrest in Russia on drug charges as a “wrongful detention.” The U.S. athlete returned home in exchange for the United States releasing a high-priority prisoner for Russia, arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in late March that it was too early to discuss the possibility of a swap for Gershkovich. He said previous exchanges involved prisoners who had been convicted.
This is not entirely supported by past precedent. The previous U.S. journalist arrested in Russia on spying charges, in 1986, was allowed to leave the country without a trial after an agreement that led to the release of a Soviet citizen accused of espionage in the United States.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s announcement on Gershkovich— a unilateral U.S. declaration — comes as relations deteriorate between the United States and Russia.
The American-born son of Soviet Jewish emigres, Gershkovich was detained in late March while on a reporting trip to the Russian city of Yekaterinburg. He and could face 20 years in prison if convicted.
Russia’s Federal Security Service accused the reporter, without providing evidence, of collecting information about a Russian military enterprise, a claim his colleagues describe as bogus. International media organizations are also calling for his release.
In the months before his detention, Gershkovich reported on Russia’s economy and attitudes within the country toward the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine.
Lawyers representing Gershkovich on behalf of the Journal said he was in good health and grateful for the outpouring of support, the Journal reported.
“We are doing everything in our power to support Evan and his family and will continue working with the State Department and other relevant U.S. officials to push for his release,” the Journal’s publisher and its editor-in chief said in a statement Monday after the U.S. designation.