Jailed WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich’s parents will be guests at State of the Union

WASHINGTON — The parents of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich — who has been imprisoned in Russia for nearly a year — will attend President Biden’s State of the Union speech on Thursday as guests of House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Gershkovich, 32, was detained on March 29, 2023, by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) for allegedly violating the country’s anti-espionage laws during a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg.

The Biden administration last April designated Gershkovich as wrongfully detained, but negotiations to broker his release have been unsuccessful.

“We are grateful to Speaker Johnson for inviting us to attend the State of the Union and for providing the opportunity to highlight Evan’s wrongful detention,” the reporter’s parents, Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich told the Journal.

“We’re also grateful to President Biden for his continued work on Evan’s behalf. Evan is an American, and he was doing his job as a journalist. He is most importantly a beloved son and brother, and we want him home,” they said.

Johnson (R-La.) said, “By hosting Evan’s parents, Congress will shine a spotlight on the unjust detention of their son.”

“The United States must always stand for freedom of the press around the world, especially in places like Russia, where it is under assault. The Administration must bring Evan home,” Johnson said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin defended Gershkovich’s imprisonment in an interview last month when pressed by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson to free him. Putin refused Carlson’s request for the journalist to be released as a sign of goodwill without any concessions from the US.

“If a person gets secret information and does that in a conspiratorial manner, then this is qualified as espionage. And that is exactly what he was doing. He was receiving classified, confidential information, and he did it covertly,” Putin insisted.

Putin claimed, “We are willing to solve it but there are certain terms being discussed via special services channels.”

The Kremlin’s demand for a prisoner swap comes as the US and its allies arm Kyiv and seize Moscow’s assets over the more than two-year Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In December 2022, Russia released professional basketball player Brittney Griner, who was jailed for possession of a small amount of marijuana, in exchange for Biden authorizing the release of international arms dealer Viktor Bout, the so-called “merchant of death.”