The State Department on Monday designated as “wrongfully detained” Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was arrested by Russian security services last month and held on an accusation of espionage that the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny.
Gershkovich’s case now shifts to a State Department section — known as the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs — which is focused on negotiating for the release of hostages and other Americans classified as wrongfully detained in foreign countries.
Officials said the speed at which the designation was reached was unprecedented, as it involves a lengthy bureaucratic process that typically takes months. The designation seldom comes before the detainee is able to meet with American consular officials from the local embassy, a right Gershkovich has so far been denied.
Lawyers representing Gershkovich on behalf of the Journal recently reported that Gershkovich was in good health and grateful for the outpouring of support from around the world, Emma Tucker, editor in chief of the Journal, said.
Even before the determination was made, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had “no doubt” Gershkovich had been wrongfully detained by Russia, adding that he stressed that fact in a recent call with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on April 2.
The Journal has vehemently denied wrongdoing on the part of Gershkovich and has called for his immediate release. The White House has labeled the accusation “ridiculous,” denied Gershkovich was a spy, and said he had never worked for the U.S. government.
Blinken last week said Gershkovich’s detention was “unacceptable” and demanded both his release and the release of another American, Paul Whelan, who has been held in Russia on espionage charges since 2018. Mr. Gershkovich’s arrest sparked global condemnation of Russia’s actions. The U.S. government also says Mr. Whelan is wrongfully detained. He was sentenced to serve 16 years in a Russian penal colony and remains incarcerated. His family says the charges are bogus.
The designation unlocks other U.S. government resources to work on Gershkovich’s case. It broadens the State Department’s authority to exert pressure on the host country, monitor intelligence, build diplomatic coalitions, exert media pressure and fight for regular consular access.
According to the State Department’s official guidance, “every wrongful detention is different, and there is no one predetermined way to secure the safe release of a person who has been wrongfully detained overseas.”
Moscow claims that the security service caught Gershkovich “red handed,” but offered no evidence to back up the allegation or offer cause for his arrest. Russia says it is acting in accordance with its own laws.
The designation is relatively rare: Some 99% of Americans held overseas face legal troubles in which the U.S. doesn’t conclude that they are being held improperly.
A U.S. law codifies wrongful detainees according to 11 parameters, including whether the person has been arrested, at least in part, because of U.S. citizenship. Human-rights groups count more than 50 Americans being wrongfully detained abroad in more than a dozen countries, led by Iran and China. The government doesn’t disclose the specific numbers of hostages or wrongfully detained Americans, “as the numbers are fluid, and due to privacy concerns and the sensitivity of ongoing efforts to secure the release of all U.S. nationals,” a State Department spokesman said.
The decision to designate someone as wrongfully detained ultimately rests with the Secretary of State.
Gershkovich, 31 years old, was detained March 29 and accused of espionage while on a reporting trip to the Russian provincial city of Yekaterinburg, about 800 miles east of Moscow. He is the first American journalist to be detained by Russian authorities since 1986, but he is one of several Americans deemed wrongfully detained by Russia in recent years.
He is accredited to work as a journalist in Russia by the country’s Foreign Ministry.
Gershkovich is being held at Russia’s Lefortovo Prison, a pretrial detention center run by the Russian Federal Security Service, known as the FSB. FSB trials are typically conducted in secret, with little to no evidence shared about a defendant’s case.
In December, women’s basketball star Brittney Griner landed in the U.S. after being released from a Russian penal colony as part of a prisoner exchange for a Russian arms dealer—a deal brokered in part by the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs. The State Department had deemed her, too, wrongfully detained.
Griner had been convicted of drug smuggling and possession over a small amount of hashish oil found in her luggage at Moscow’s airport in February 2022. She was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony.
In Griner’s case, the Russian government delayed granting regular consular access, leaving her to go months without seeing embassy representatives, U.S. officials said.
This report originally appeared on WSJ.com.
Also read:
• Blinken: ‘No doubt’ Russia has wrongfully detained WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich
• Detained reporter Evan Gershkovich loved Russia, the country that turned on him
• ‘Lefortovo is the most isolated place to be’: Inside the infamous Russian prison holding Evan Gershkovich
• How to support detained WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich on social media
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