The American edition of The Wall Street Journal, in response to the arrest in Russia of journalist Evan Gershkovich, expects the Russian ambassador and journalists to be expelled from the United States, while the Kremlin called this demand groundless.
Source: “The Wall Street Journal“, BBC“Medusawith reference to Interfax
Literally WSJ: “Russia’s arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich reinforces the Kremlin’s habit of taking Americans hostage, and is further evidence that Russia is moving away from the community of civilized countries.
President Vladimir Putin is now responsible for Mr. Gershkovich’s health and safety, and the Biden administration has a duty to seek his release. (…)
Bandit leaders continue to do bandit acts if they think they will get nothing for it. The Biden administration will have to consider diplomatic and political escalation.
The expulsion of the Russian ambassador to the United States, as well as all Russian journalists working here, is the minimum that can be counted on. The first duty of the US government is to protect its citizens, and far too many governments today feel they can arrest and jail Americans with impunity.”
Details: The Wall Street Journal notes that Gershkovich was captured on Wednesday in the city of Yekaterinburg, where he was reporting, and neither the magazine nor the US government was allowed to contact him by Thursday evening.
The publication denies the accusation of the FSB of espionage. Gershkovich has been working in Russia for many years and “the FSB could have expelled him from the country a long time ago if they really considered him a spy,” the publication’s column says. Gershkovich’s arrest came days after he described the decline of the Russian economy, the WSJ notes.
As several people whom Gershkovich met in Yekaterinburg told the BBC Russian Service, the journalist was interested in recruiting into the Wagner PMC and the attitude towards the war in Ukraine.
The Wall Street Journal speculates that Gershkovich’s arrest may be Russia’s response to U.S. accusations against Russian citizen Sergei Cherkasov of fraud and being an agent of a foreign power, as “Putin often takes hostages in order to subsequent exchange for Russians”.
The WSJ emphasizes that Gershkovich’s arrest on espionage charges is the first charge against an American journalist in Russia since the detention of Nikolai Danilov (Nikolas Daniloff) in 1986, during the latter stages of the Cold War.
Danilov was then released, and the United States allowed the employee of the USSR mission to the UN to leave the country after his arrest.
The WSJ also recalls a number of recent exchanges between the US and Russia.
In turn, the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov called groundless the proposal to expel Russian journalists from the United States in response to the arrest of Evan Gershkovich
Vladimir Putin’s spokesman assured that foreign journalists accredited in the Russian Federation “do not face any restrictions and do excellent work,” but in the case of Gershkovich “we are talking about activities under the guise of journalistic, essentially espionage activities.”
Peskov said that “since the journalist was caught red-handed, the situation here is obvious,” and therefore “there is no reason to demand the expulsion of all Russian journalists.”
