Evan Gershkovich: Biden ‘working every day’ to free WSJ reporter held in Russia

Joe Biden on Friday said the US was working every day to secure the release of Evan Gershkovich on the first anniversary of the 32-year-old Wall Street journalist’s detention in Russia on charges of spying that he and the US government vehemently reject.

“Journalism is not a crime, and Evan went to Russia to do his job as a reporter – risking his safety to shine the light of truth on Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine,” Biden said in a statement on Friday.

Related: ‘He’s not broken’: a year later, Evan Gershkovich is still in Russian prison

Gershkovich was arrested while on a reporting trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg and he became the first American reporter to be detained in Russia accused of espionage since the cold war.

The Wall Street Journal, the New York-based, Murdoch-owned daily financial and news publication, published a dramatic front page on Friday, posting an image on X, formerly Twitter, featuring a large blank space under the headline: “His story should be here”. Next to the stark space are articles about what the reporter has lost in the last year and a piece titled “Authoritarians Threaten Journalists Around Globe”.

Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, alleges Gershkovich was acting on US orders to collect state secrets – but provided no evidence to support the accusation, which he, the Journal and the US government deny. Washington has designated him as wrongfully detained and US officials are engaged on several fronts in efforts to free the reporter.

At a recent court hearing, Gershkovich was ordered to remain behind bars pending trial at least until 30 June, the fifth extension of his detention.

Biden said in the statement that he would never give up hope.

“We will continue working every day to secure his release,” the president said. “We will continue to denounce and impose costs for Russia’s appalling attempts to use Americans as bargaining chips. And we will continue to stand strong against all those who seek to attack the press or target journalists – the pillars of free society.”

Biden said the US was working to free all Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad.

Another American accused of espionage is Paul Whelan, a corporate executive from Michigan. He was arrested in 2018 in Russia and sentenced two years later to 16 years in prison. Whelan, who said he traveled to Moscow to attend a friend’s wedding, has maintained his innocence and said the charges against him are fabricated.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said in a statement that both Gershkovich and Whelan have “remained resilient despite the circumstances of living in Russian detention”.

“People are not bargaining chips,” Blinken said. “Russia should end its practice of arbitrarily detaining individuals for political leverage and should immediately release Evan and Paul.”

Congressional leaders including the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, the House speaker, Mike Johnson, and the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, also issued a joint statement calling for Gershkovich’s release.

“We continue to condemn his baseless arrest, fabricated charges and unjust imprisonment … Today, Putin is restoring Soviet-style control through repression at home and aggression abroad,” they said.

The Wall Street Journal published an open letter by its editor-in-chief, the former Times of London journalist Emma Tucker, which said the charges against its reporter were “bogus and baseless” and saying: “It is well past time for this talented reporter and innocent man to come home.”

Tucker wrote: “Evan’s detention is a blatant attack on the rights of the free press at a time when evidence abounds around the globe of the vital role that quality journalism plays in our society’s understanding of world events and in bearing witness to history.”

She added: “More than 520 journalists are imprisoned worldwide, according to advocacy group Reporters Without Borders. The figure is among the highest the group has ever recorded. Dozens have been killed in the line of duty.”

The letter emphasized “Biden’s promise to Evan’s family that he will bring Evan home.”

On Friday, the Wall Street Journal issued a mobile news alert to readers, saying: “This alert should have gone to a story by Evan.”

The advocacy groups Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have also issued statements.

In a post on X, HRW called his arrest an “all-out assault on speech and media freedoms” by the Russian government. Meanwhile, the CPJ said: “His unjust arrest is a brazen violation of press freedom and not only poses far-reaching consequences to journalism and the media, but to governments and democracies everywhere.”

Evan’s sister, Danielle Gershkovich said in a BBC interview: “It’s been a really difficult year. The uncertainty is very hard to deal with.”

She said she and her brother write letters to each other and try to keep each others’ spirits up with loving sibling banter.

The Associated Press contributed reporting