Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky called for the release of a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter who is detained in Russia.
“We strongly condemn the wrongful detention of U.S. citizen and Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, and demand the immediate release of this internationally known and respected independent journalist,” they said in a joint statement Friday.
Rare joint statement from McConnell and Schumer — calling for release of detained WSJ reporter in Russia pic.twitter.com/2LLyG5PJg5
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) April 7, 2023
“Russia has a long and disturbing history of unjustly detaining U.S. citizens in a judicial system that provides neither transparency nor justice. Indeed, even now, the Kremlin continues to wrongfully detain U.S. citizen Paul Whelan. The Kremlin should release Mr. Whelan and Mr. Gershkovich now,” the senators continued.
“Let there be no mistake: journalism is not a crime. We demand the baseless, fabricated charges against Mr. Gershkovich be dropped and he be immediately released and reiterate our condemnation of the Russian government’s continued attempts to intimidate, repress, and punish independent journalists and civil society voices.”
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) announced Gershkovich’s arrest March 30, and he was formally charged with espionage Friday. The Biden administration has formally objected to the reporter’s detention, and is urging Americans to avoid traveling to the country. (RELATED: ‘Unacceptable’: White House Condemns Russia Detaining US Journalist, Warns Against Travel)
The Russian government frequently detains American citizens visiting the country and accuses them of espionage or other charges. Russia is currently detaining Paul Whelan, a former Marine and private security contractor, on espionage charges. Former Marine Trevor Reed was convicted in 2020 of endangering Russian police officers, but was freed in a 2022 prisoner swap.