US ambassador meets with jailed WSJ reporter

Evan Gershkovich

The U.S. ambassador to Russia was granted access to jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on Monday, reports Ann Simmons of The Journal.

Simmons reports, “U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy’s visit to Gershkovich at Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison follows two earlier meetings that came amid friction between Washington and Moscow over the infrequency of consular access to the American reporter. Monday’s visit occurred six weeks after Tracy’s last meeting with Gershkovich on July 3.

“‘Ambassador Tracy reported that Evan continues to appear in good health and remains strong, despite the circumstances,’ the U.S. Embassy in Moscow said in a statement.

“Gershkovich, a 31-year-old U.S. citizen who was accredited by Russia’s Foreign Ministry to work as a journalist, was detained by agents from Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, while on a reporting trip in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on March 29. He is being held on an allegation of espionage that he, the Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.