US reporter Evan Gershkovich was sentenced by a Russian court on Friday to 16 years prison for “espionage”, a verdict slammed as “despicable”, “disgraceful” and a “sham” by Western governments and his employer.
Gershkovich was sentenced after just three court sessions in a secretive closed-door trial in the Urals City of Yekaterinburg, the city where he was arrested while on a reporting trip in March 2023.
After the sentencing, US President Joe Biden said Gershkovich was “targeted by the Russian government because he is a journalist and an American”.
“There is no question that Russia is wrongfully detaining Evan,” he said.
“We are pushing hard for Evan’s release and will continue to do so,” he added in a written statement published by the White House.
Both Washington and Moscow say talks over a prisoner swap are ongoing.
Russia has previously said its policy is not to trade people before they have been convicted, suggesting Friday’s sentence could pave the way for the 32-year-old journalist to finally be swapped in a deal.
In court on Friday, Gershkovich did not appear to react to the sentencing, standing in a glass defendants’ cage in dark trousers and a T-shirt.
He waved to his journalist colleagues as he was led away.
Judge Andrei Mineyev said said Gershkovich would be sent to a “strict regime colony” – a Russian prison camp notorious for harsh conditions and strict rules.
The Wall Street Journal correspondent, who pleaded not guilty, became the first journalist in Russia to be charged with spying since the Cold War when he was detained in 2023.
He has spent almost 16 months in detention on charges the United States government and his employer have always said are fabricated.
“This disgraceful, sham conviction comes after Evan has spent 478 days in prison, wrongfully detained, away from his family and friends, prevented from reporting, all for doing his job as a journalist,” the Journal’s publisher Almar Latour and editor-in-chief Emma Tucker said in a statement.
Washington believes he is being held as a bargaining chip to secure the release of Russians convicted abroad.
His trial has moved rapidly since the first hearing in late June, with the prosecution and defence teams giving their final arguments on Friday.
Other similar cases in Russia have dragged on far more slowly, with several weeks or even months between hearings.
The Kremlin has provided no public evidence for the espionage allegations, saying only that Gershkovich was caught “red-handed” spying on a tank factory in the Urals region while working for the US Central Intelligence Agency.
The prosecutor said on Friday that Gershkovich acted with “careful measures of secrecy”.
Moscow and Washington have both said they are open to exchanging the reporter in a deal, but neither has given clues on when that might happen.
When asked on Friday, the Kremlin refused to speculate about the prospect of a prisoner swap.
“I’ll leave your question unanswered,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov when asked by Reuters on Friday.
Moscow’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that talks between US and Russian special services over possible prisoner exchanges were ongoing, without naming any specific individuals.
Putin has implied he wants to see the release of Vadim Krasikov, a Russian convicted in Germany of killing a Chechen separatist commander.
Among other US nationals detained in Russia are reporter Alsu Kurmasheva and ballerina Ksenia Karelina, who are both dual US-Russian citizens, and former US marine Paul Whelan, who is serving a 16-year sentence for spying.
In his statement on Friday, Biden said he had “no higher priority than seeking the release and safe return of Evan, Paul Whelan and all Americans wrongfully detained and held hostage abroad”.
He added: “Journalism is not a crime.”
