US ambassador meets with WSJ’s Gershkovich

Evan Gershkovich

The U.S. ambassador to Russia recently met with Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who has been unlawfully detained in the country for more than a year, reports Dominick Mastrangelo of The Hill.

Mastrangelo reports, “The U.S. Embassy in Moscow said Lynne Tracy met with Gershkovich, who was arrested last year by Russia’s Federal Security Service during a reporting trip in Yekaterinburg and has been charged with suspicion of espionage.

“‘Despite the continued wait for the start of his trial, Evan remains in good spirits, buoyed by the continued messages of support,’ the embassy said.

“The United States government has said the charges against Gershkovich are trumped up, and American officials have advocated for his release.

“The Journal reported senior Russian government officials recently acknowledged that its government had employed a confidential channel to discuss prisoner exchanges with the U.S. government, which it noted could include Gershkovich.”

Read more here.

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.