(NewsNation) — Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will have the chance to appeal the espionage charges he faces in Russia this month.
The 31-year-old American has been reporting on Russia with various news outlets for six years.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov stressed “the serious nature of the charges” against Gershkovich, according to a ministry statement.
Gershkovich was arrested in Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city, on March 29. He is the first U.S. correspondent since the Cold War to be detained for alleged spying.
“We strongly condemn the wrongful detention of U.S. citizen and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and demand the immediate release of this internationally known and respected independent journalist,” U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said in a joint statement Friday.
Russia’s Federal Security Service accused Gershkovich of trying to obtain classified information about a Russian arms factory. The Wall Street Journal has denied the accusations.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he has “no doubt” that Gershkovich was wrongfully detained. On Sunday, during a rare call, Bliken urged Lavrov to release Gershkovich immediately, as well as another imprisoned American, Paul Whelan.
A Moscow court said Monday that it had received a defense appeal of Gershkovich’s arrest; the appeal is to be heard on April 18, Russian news agencies reported. The Wall Street Journal reports that the court could uphold his detention, move him to another jail, allow his house arrest or grant him bail during this hearing.
Now, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby is declining to say whether or when the U.S. would consider a prisoner swap to secure Gershkovich’s release.
“I won’t get ahead of where we are, and I think you can understand why we would certainly not want to talk about potential negotiations here from the podium. We’re at a very early stage here. Main goal is to get consular access to him so we can have that contact and that connectivity. We’re doing what we can to keep him his employer and the family informed,” Kirby said during a White House press briefing Thursday.
Bob Menendez, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman, said in a statement that Gershkovich’s “heroic commitment to deliver critical stories about Putin’s Russia to the world … putting [himself] in danger every day” means that “We owe [him] nothing less than our full commitment to mobilize every tool the united states has to bring home all hostages and wrongfully detained Americans.”
Menendez told the Wall Street Journal that it’s outrageous that Gershkovich hasn’t been granted consular access, allowing him to communicate with his family, his lawyers, and receive medical care and reading materials.
He also argued that the U.S. Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs should now be in control of Gershkovich’s arrest.