On Friday, US President Joe Biden called on Russia to release detained Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich, whom Moscow has accused of spying. Reporters asked about Gershkowitz’s arrest as Biden boarded a helicopter on the White House lawn.
“Let him go!” Biden said, turning to Russian authorities.
Asked by reporters whether US authorities would expel Russian diplomats in response to Gershkovich’s detention, Biden replied, “There is no such plan now.”
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) editorial demanded on Thursday that the White House take harsh retaliatory measures in response to the arrest of its journalist, US citizen Evan Gershkovich. The WSJ warned that Vladimir Putin is now responsible for the safety of the journalist, because he has become a hostage of the Russian authorities.
The WSJ believes that to pressure Russian authorities, the Biden administration “should consider the possibility of political and diplomatic escalation.” “The expulsion of the Russian ambassador to the United States, as well as all Russian journalists working here, is the minimum that can be counted on,” the article said.
The WSJ denies the spying allegations made by the Russian FSB against the journalist. “The Russian government closely monitors foreign journalists in Russia, and Evan Gershkovich has worked there for many years. The FSB could have expelled him a long time ago if they really considered him a spy,†the editorial reads.
The WSJ writes that “the timing of the arrest appears to be a deliberate provocation intended to embarrass the United States and intimidate the foreign press still operating in Russia. The Kremlin has intimidated the Russian press, so foreign correspondents are the last independent source of information about Russia. Gershkovich’s arrest came just days after the publication of his eye-opening and widely read article on the decline of the Russian economy. The Kremlin does not want this truth revealed.
In addition, WSJ editors draw attention to the fact that Gershkovich’s arrest may also be a response to charges laid last week by the US Department of Justice against illegal GRU agent Sergei Cherkasov, who was arrested in Brazil. “Mr. Putin often takes hostages to exchange them for Russians who have committed crimes in the United States,” the WSJ said.
The WSJ also recalled that Gershkovich’s arrest for espionage was the first arrest of an American journalist in Russia since the Cold War, when journalist Nicholas Daniloff was arrested in Moscow in 1986. He was held for about two weeks. and released without charge after the United States allowed a Russian employee of the Soviet mission to the UN, arrested during an FBI special operation, to leave the country a few days before the arrest of the American journalist.
On Thursday, the White House and the State Department strongly condemned the detention of Evan Gershkovich by the Russian FSB.
“The persecution of American citizens by Russian authorities is unacceptable. We condemn in the strongest terms the detention of Mr. Gershkovich. We also condemn the Russian government’s continued harassment and repression of journalists and press freedom,†Biden administration spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said.
According to her, representatives of the White House and the US State Department spoke with the editors of the Wall Street Journal. Additionally, the Biden administration is in contact with Evan Hershkovich’s family. The US State Department is currently working to obtain consular access to the journalist.
Evan Gershkovich denies all charges brought against him by Russian authorities.
