Voice of America’s Russian language service correspondent Masha Morton has filed a detailed report documenting the chronology of the arrest of The Wall Street Journal reporter in Russia, Evan Gershkovich. Morton’s April 3 account will probably be the most factually-based version of the incident that Russian-only speakers will receive, given the anti-free speech climate in Russia under the autocratic rule of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Translation by LOC follows:

Who is Evan Gershkovich?

Evan Gershkovich – 31 years old, the son of immigrants from the USSR, grew up in Princeton, Massachusetts. Graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine. Worked at the New York Times, then after moving to Moscow – at the Netherlands internet publication in Russian and English, The Moscow Times, and at the France Presse Agency. Among other things, he worked on the topics of fires in Siberia and COVID-19. Since January 2022, he has been at The Wall Street Journal. After the start of military operations of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, he went to the border of Russia and Belarus, where he interviewed Russian soldiers. In total, he spent close to six years in Russia.

On 30 March 2023 it became known that he was detained in Yekaterinburg.

What happened and when?

29 March, Wednesday*

Gershkovich detained in Yekaterinburg.

30 March, Thursday

Quoting law enforcement sources, Russian mass media reports that Moscow’s Lefortovo court had opened a case against Gershkovich based on article 276 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Espionage). It is reported, as well, that the case is under the heading “Top Secret,” but the journalist does not acknowledge his guilt.

The Wall Street Journal expresses concern for the safety of Gershkovich, and a bit later adds to the news about the arrest of the journalist with the statement that it “categorically rejects the accusation of the Federal Security Service (FSB) and seeks immediate release for Gershovich. In the course of a briefing at the White House, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre states that the charges lodged against Gershkovich of espionage are “ridiculous,” and calls for American citizens in Russia to leave the country immediately.

According to several acquaintances of Gershkovich and a series of other sources, the journalist was busy gathering information in Yekaterinburg concerning recruitment into the PMC (Private Military Company) Wagner.

The head of diplomacy of the EU, Josep Borrell, states that “the EU condemns the detention in Russia of journalist and U.S. citizen Gershkovich,” stressing that “journalists must have the possibility to freely engage in their profession and deserve protection.” Official representative of the RF MFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation), Mariya Zakharova, answers that Gershkovich was not engaging in journalism.”

31 March, Friday

The U.S. State Department states that it is working to get consular access to the arrested journalist.

U.S. President Joe Biden calls for the release of Gershkovich.

2 April, Sunday

U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, in a telephone call with Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov, expresses serious concern in connection with the “unacceptable” detention of an American journalist of The Wall Street Journal and calls for his immediate release.

3 April, Monday

White House National Security Council official representative, John Kirby, reports that consular access has not been afforded to Evan Gershkovich, The Wall Street Journal journalist detained in Russia. Kirby stresses that the return to their country of Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, who is in a Russian prison as well, is a priority for the U.S.

4 April, Tuesday

Gershkovich meets for the first time with his lawyer.

Journalists of a series of independent Russian mass media sign a letter with the demand to free Gershkovich. Among them are journalists from Meduza, Mediazona, Republic, and others. The letter says, “The FSB maintains that Gershkovich allegedly was acting according to an assignment of the U.S. and was carrying out the gathering of information constituting a state secret about the activity of one of the enterprises of the Russian Military Industrial Complex. However, this statement is not backed up by anything – they suggest to us that we take at its word the investigation of the State Security Service. In exactly the same way, they proposed to us to believe the FSB in the course of the case concerning the treason of our colleague Ivan Safronov. Thanks to a series of journalistic investigations, the details of the “treason” imputed to Safronov became the property of the general public, and we consider it to have been proven that Ivan was condemned to 22 years in a penal colony solely for journalistic work. The similarity of the circumstances of the new “espionage” case with Safronov’s case raises doubts concerning the credibility of the accusation that has been lodged against Evan Gershkovich.”

5 April, Wednesday

Appearing before journalists at the NATO summit in Brussels, U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, states that he has “no doubt” that Evan Gershkovich has been detained on a contrived charge which has no basis. According to Blinken, the U.S. government will continue to look into the situation.

*In the initial version of the article, we incorrectly indicated the date of detention to be 30 March. Gershkovich was detained a day earlier.

Masha Morton is a correspondent of Voice of America. She is the reporter for the program, Made in the USA. Her interests: social journalism, culture, and art.