Alongside Gershkovich, US Marine veteran Paul Whelan and Russian-American radio journalist Alsu Kurmasheva will also be freed, as confirmed by a senior U.S. official.
The exchange deal, agreed upon by the Biden administration, will involve a total of 24 prisoners held in Russia, the U.S., Germany, and three other Western countries. Although the swap has not yet occurred, it is expected to take place later on Thursday.
Eight Russian nationals, some with suspected ties to Russian intelligence, are expected to be returned to Russia as part of the exchange.
Vadim Krasikov, identified by German officials as a colonel in Russia’s FSB intelligence service, is currently serving a life sentence for the 2019 murder of a Kremlin opponent in a Berlin park.
This comes amid days of speculation about a significant prisoner swap involving multiple countries, intensified by the relocation of several dissidents and journalists jailed in Russia to unknown locations.
One such detainee is Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Kremlin critic with dual Russian-British citizenship, whose unknown whereabouts have fueled expectations of his possible release.
Other names potentially included in the exchange are Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin and veteran human rights advocate Oleg Orlov.
While secret prison transfers are not uncommon in Russia, the simultaneous “disappearance” of several high-profile prisoners is unusual.
Earlier this week,Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko pardoned German citizen Rico Krieger, who had been sentenced to death for terrorism and other charges.
If all these releases occur, it would mark one of the largest prisoner exchanges between Russia and the West in history.
American journalist Evan Gershkovich will face trial in Russia on espionage charges, according to Russian prosecutors.
The Wall Street Journal reporter is accused of collecting “secret information” from a Russian tank factory for the CIA.
Prosecutors announced he would be tried in Yekaterinburg, the city where he was arrested last March while covering the war in Ukraine. Both Mr. Gershkovich and the US government deny the charges, with Washington officially labelling him as “wrongfully detained.”
On Thursday, Russian prosecutors stated that an investigation had found Mr. Gershkovich had gathered “secret information” about the “production and repair of military equipment” at a Russian tank factory.
They claimed he carried out these “illegal actions using painstaking conspiratorial methods” under the CIA’s instructions.
Since his arrest, Mr. Gershkovich has been held in pre-trial detention in Moscow, approximately 1,000 miles (1,609 km) from Yekaterinburg.
He has spent over a year in custody and, if convicted, could face up to 20 years in prison. His arrest marks the first time since the Soviet era that Russia has accused a US journalist of espionage.
The American embassy in Moscow has labelled the detention “baseless.” The Wall Street Journal has accused Moscow of “stockpiling Americans in Russian jails to trade them later.” Russian officials barely conceal their view of Mr. Gershkovich as a bargaining chip.
Earlier this year, in an interview with Tucker Carlson,President Vladimir Putin suggested that a deal could be made to free Mr. Gershkovich.
He stated that it depended on “our partners [taking] reciprocal steps” and hinted at the identity of a person Russia would consider in a prisoner exchange.
A court in Moscow has decided to keep Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich in jail for another three months before his trial starts. He was arrested for being accused of spying.
His time in jail before the trial has been extended until November 30, according to the press service of the Lefortovo Court on Thursday. It was supposed to finish on August 30th.
Gershkovich has been held in Russia since March after being arrested for charges that he, the WSJ, and the US government strongly deny.
The US State Department says that Gershkovich is being held unfairly in Russia. US President Joe Biden has been clear and direct about Gershkovich’s arrest, requesting Russia to release him. This is an important news story. More information will be given later.
The Wall Street Journal writer is in good condition and is still robust, according to Ambassador Lynne Tracy.
He was taken into custody on March 29 on espionage charges, making him the first foreign journalist taken into custody in Russia since the Soviet era.
The charges are refuted by the US, the Wall Street Journal, and Mr. Gershkovich.
Russia had been brushing aside US requests for more visits since the ambassador’s initial meeting with the reporter in April.
“Ambassador Tracy reports that Mr Gershkovich is in good health and remains strong, despite his circumstances,” a State Department spokesperson said after Monday’s visit.
The 31-year-old is being held at Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, a former KGB prison.
The visit comes after a Moscow court rejected an appeal to free Mr Gershkovich on 22 June, a move the US said at the time was extremely disappointing.
Up until Monday’s meeting, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was pushing Russia “virtually every day” to permit consular access.
This had been a point of contention with the two countries, with the US accusing Russia of ignoring international law by blocking detained Americans diplomatic access.
Russia had indicated their decision was linked to the US refusing visas to a group of Russian reporters assigned to cover Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s visit to the UN Security Council in New York.
The Russian foreign ministry described the decision to deny the visas as an act of “sabotage”.
Mr Lavrov said Russia would neither forgive nor forget the decision.
Along with Mr Gershkovich, the US has also been advocating for the release of Paul Whelan, a former US Marine who has been in jail for more than four years.
Mr Whelan is in Mordovia, an area far southeast of Moscow known for harsh conditions in its prison camps.
“Both men deserve to go home to their families now,” the State Department said in a statement.
After being jailed for 10 months, basketball star Brittney Griner was released in December after the US brokered a prison swap and released Russian Viktor Bout, who was imprisoned in the US over weapons smuggling.
Mr Blinken has said the US is exploring ways to bring home “many other Americans who are being detained in different parts of the world in an arbitrary fashion”.
Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, was rejected his request to have the conditions of his espionage-related detention changed on Tuesday at a court hearing in Moscow.
The US citizen was detained in Russia last month as part of the Kremlin’s campaign against Western news organizations since it invaded Ukraine the previous year.
Until May 29, Gershkovich is being kept in a pre-trial detention facility at the notorious Lefortovo prison. On account of his espionage, he might spend up to 20 years in prison. The claims of spying against Gershkovich have been vigorously refuted by The Wall Street Journal.
He appeared in Moscow City Court to ask that his pre-trial detention be under house arrest rather than in jail.
He was pictured standing in a glass cage, standing with arms folded as journalists scrambled into the room. Gershkovich was smiling at times, in his glass cage, as proceedings were about to get underway.
During the hearing, he told the judge that he did not need the decision of his appeal translated into English. “No no, I don’t need translation,” said Gershkovich, who is a bilingual Russian-English speaker.
“On April 18, 2023, the Moscow City Court upheld the decision of the Lefortovsky District Court of Moscow dated March 30, 2023 against Evan Gershkovich, who is suspected of committing a crime under Art. 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation,” the court said in a statement.
Gershkovich’s legal team said it offered bail amounting to about $613,000 to the court to release the reporter from detention, but the court denied bail.
“We suggested that the court consider the choice of preventive measures not related to isolation from society, including house arrest, since Evan has a registration in the territory of Moscow; or a ban on certain actions; or a bail in the amount of 50 million rubles,” lawyer Maria Korchagina said.
“Dow Jones, the owner of the WSJ, provided a letter of guarantee that if Evan is released from custody, they are ready to provide bail in the amount of 50 million rubles. But our request was denied,” she added.
The US Ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy, was photographed standing to the right of the cage with lawyers. Tracy said she spoke to Gershkovich on Monday, and he remains strong and is in good health.
“The charges against Evan are baseless, and we call on the Russian Federation to immediately release him,” she said, speaking after the court made its ruling on Tuesday.
Members of the press filmed Gershkovich and subsequently left the court room.
Tatyana Nozkhkina, a lawyer for Gershkovich, said later that his team will keep appealing against the detention of the reporter. The next court date is at the end of May, when the court is due to decide on an extension of his detention.
Nozkhkina said her client was keeping in good spirits in jail, reading Russian classic novels as well as watching cooking shows on TV and exercising.
“He does not complain,” she said outside the court.
Gershkovich’s arrest marked the first detention of an American reporter in Russia on allegations of spying since the Cold War, rattling White House officials and further straining ties between Moscow and Washington.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed his arrest on Sunday, according to a statement released by the Russian Foreign Ministry, as relations between both parties have soured since the Kremlin launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia’s main security service, the FSB, claimed that Gershkovich, a correspondent based in Moscow, had been trying to obtain state secrets. The Wall Street Journal categorically rejected the accusation.
Last week, the US State Department officially designated Gershkovich as wrongfully detained in Russia, giving further backing to the assertions by the US government and the Wall Street Journal that the espionage charges against the reporter are unfounded.
US President Joe Biden has also been blunt about Gershkovich’s arrest, urging Russia to “let him go.”
In December, the US negotiated the release of basketball star Brittney Griner, detained last year on what the US described as false drug smuggling charges, in a prisoner swap for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. But the swap did not include another American whom the State Department has declared to be unlawfully detained, Paul Whelan.
As US officials begin to consider ways to secure Gershkovich’s release, some are concerned about a prisoner swap in this case incentivizing the detainment of American journalists.
