WSJ journalist pledges not to 'lose hope' in first letter from Russian jail

Moscow: In his first letter to his parents in the US, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who is currently detained in Russia on espionage allegations, indicated that he is not “losing hope” and made a joke about the food in jail.

When Gershkovich, 31, was arrested in the city of Ekaterinburg, 1,100 miles (1,800 km) east of Moscow, on March 29, he made history as the first American journalist to be held in Russia on suspicion of spying since the conclusion of the cold war.

The reporter is being investigated by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) for gathering what it claimed to be state secrets about the military industrial complex. Both Gershkovich and the Journal have disputed that he was a spy.

Since then, he has been detained at Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, where he is allowed visits from his Russian lawyers but is not yet allowed to see friends or representatives from the US consulate since, according to Moscow, the matter is still being looked into.

In the two-page, handwritten note dated 5 April that his parents, Soviet immigrants who now reside in Philadelphia, received late last week, Gershkovich wrote, “I want to say that I am not losing hope.” “I read. I work out. I’m also attempting to write.

He made fun of his mother’s meals as well. For better or worse, you unluckily did a good job of preparing me for jail meals, he added to his mother.

“For breakfast they give us hot creamed wheat, oatmeal cereal or wheat gruel. I am remembering my childhood.”

The letter, which was written in Russian, the family’s native tongue, also attested to Gershkovich receiving a care package of clothing, slippers, toiletries, and stationery from friends in Russia.

In a video interview with the Journal last week, the reporter’s parents, Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich, who left the Soviet Union in 1979, expressed optimism for a favourable resolution and emphasised that their son still cherished Russia.

“Being optimistic and believing in a happy ending is one of the American qualities that we absorbed,” Milman added.

“But I’m not a fool. I am aware of the issues. If found guilty, Gershkovich could receive a term as long as 20 years in jail.

As one of the few surviving western journalists who continued to cover Moscow following the invasion of Ukraine, Milman claimed her son felt obliged to remain in Russia. “I am aware that he believed it was his obligation to report… She said, “He adores Russians.

Media outlets, human rights organizations, and foreign governments have expressed outrage over Gershkovich’s detention. Joe Biden last week called the confinement “totally illegal” and told the family he was working to get a release.

The journalist, who is widely regarded as a gifted and well-respected reporter, was last week officially recognised by the US as having been “wrongfully detained,” sending a message that it believes the espionage charges against him are false and that he is being kept as a hostage.

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, asserted that Gershkovich was “caught red-handed” while attempting to collect secrets. The Kremlin claimed that he had been engaging in espionage “under the cover” of journalism.

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