On Thursday, the US Ambassador to Moscow, Lynn Tracy, visited journalist Ivan Gershkovich, who has been imprisoned for nearly a year on charges of “espionage,” and confirmed that he remains “strong and steadfast” despite the circumstances.
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The US Embassy said in a statement: “Today, Ambassador Tracy visited Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovitch at the Lefortovo Detention Center.”
“Next week will mark one year since he was wrongly arrested by Russian authorities,” the letter read.
“Ivan remains strong and resilient, but the fact that he is awaiting trial for a crime he did not commit is a tragedy,” the embassy concluded.
Ivan Gershkovitch, who was arrested in March 2023, rejects these accusations of “espionage,” as do the United States, his newspaper, his relatives, and his family.
Several American citizens have been arrested and sentenced to heavy sentences in Russia in recent years. Washington, which has supported Kiev against the Russian army for two years, accuses Moscow of holding them hostage to exchange them.
Russian President Vladimir Putin recently said that he wants to negotiate a prisoner exchange with Washington, citing the case of a man convicted of committing a Russian-sponsored assassination who is imprisoned in Germany.
Wall Street Journal correspondent Ivan Gershkovich, who also worked for AFP in Moscow in the past, was detained by the FSB during a report in Yekaterinburg, in the Ural Mountains.
He faces up to 20 years in prison. Russia has never proven its accusations or provided evidence publicly. The entire procedure was classified.
