President Joe Biden says the US will impose costs for Russia’s “appalling attempts” to use Americans as bargaining chips in a statement to mark the one-year anniversary of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich’s arrest in Russia.
Mr Gershkovich, 32, became the first US journalist arrested on spying charges in Russia since the Cold War when he was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) on March 29 last year.
“As I have told Evan’s parents, I will never give up hope either. We will continue working every day to secure his release,” Mr Biden said in a statement released by the White House on Friday, calling the journalist’s detention “wholly unjust and illegal”.
“We will continue to denounce and impose costs for Russia’s appalling attempts to use Americans as bargaining chips,” Mr Biden added.
The Kremlin said on Thursday complete silence was needed when it came to discussions about possible prisoner exchanges involving Mr Gershkovich.
The reporter, the Journal and the US government all deny he is a spy. The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said Mr Gershkovich had been trying to obtain military secrets.
He has now spent a year at Moscow’s high-security Lefortovo prison, which is closely associated with the FSB, and his detention has been extended to June 30.
Top leaders in the US congress from both parties including Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson also issued a joint statement on Friday calling the journalist’s arrest baseless and unjust.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Mr Gershkovich’s arrest had made Russia’s already-restrictive media landscape “more oppressive”.
In their statements, Mr Biden and Mr Blinken also condemned the detention of Paul Whelan, an ex-Marine arrested in Moscow in 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in prison on spying charges in 2020. He and the US government deny the charges.
“To Evan, to Paul Whelan, and to all Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad: We are with you. And we will never stop working to bring you home,” Mr Biden said.
UK Foreign Minister David Cameron called Russia’s detention of Mr Gershkovich “a damning indictment of its disregard for media freedom, and the values of truth and objectivity”.
Mr Gershkovich’s family vowed to continue fighting for his release in a letter to the readers of the Wall Street Journal, Mr Gershkovich’s employer.
“We never anticipated this situation happening to our son and brother, let alone a full year with no certainty or clear path forward,” they said.
“But despite this long battle, we are still standing strong.
“In their letter, Mr Gershkovich’s parents, Mikhail and Ella, and sister Danielle described the past year as “unimaginable”.
“It has felt like holding our breath,” the family wrote.
“We have been living with a constant ache in our hearts thinking about Evan every moment of every day.
“The family, who has met with Mr Biden, thanked the US government, the Journal, Mr Gershkovich’s friends and well-wishers for working towards his release and for their support.
“Throughout all the challenges in this tumultuous time we’ve watched as Evan has faced this uncertainty, stuck in a small cell, with limited news of the world, without his freedom.
“Over the past year, the family has watched footage and photographs from a Moscow court where Mr Gershkovich appeared every few weeks to have his pre-trial detention extended continually.
“We have watched him face this with his head held high because he is innocent,” they wrote in their letter. (ABC)
