Russia frees US Wall Street Journal reporter Gershkovich in prisoner swap
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00:00He became the first Western journalist convicted of espionage in Russia since the end of the
00:05Cold War. Evan Gershkovich was arrested while at a cafe in March 2023 and was accused of spying on
00:13a tank factory. Gershkovich had been on assignment and was meeting a contact in association with an
00:19investigation he was conducting. The 32-year-old, born in the United States to Russian-born parents,
00:26is bilingual and arrived in Russia in 2017. He started out working for the Moscow Times,
00:32then went on to do a brief stint with the AFP before landing his dream job at the Wall Street
00:37Journal. His employer and US officials consistently denied claims Gershkovich spied for the CIA.
00:44We're deeply concerned over Russia's announcement that it has detained a Wall Street Journal
00:51reporter. We protest Russia's Russian efforts to limit and intimidate the media. In July,
00:58Evan Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years in jail. The sentencing came weeks after a trial
01:04labelled a sham by Washington, as it took place without members of Gershkovich's family,
01:10his employer or US embassy personnel. Last year's arrest of Evan Gershkovich came as relations
01:16between the US and Russia had sunk to new lows following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
01:22While Gershkovich's detention conditions were harsh,
01:24he remained optimistic he'd eventually be freed in a prisoner exchange.