The letter from Wall Street Journal reporter held in a former KGB jail cell: ‘He teased his mother, saying her breakfasts had prepared him for prison food’

When Evan Gershkovich’s parents received a letter from the Russian prison where their son is being held, they knew there was no doubt it had been written by him.

"It was a very Evan letter,” says Paul Beckett, the Largs-born Washington bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), where US journalist Mr Gershkovich was working when he was taken by Russian authorities after entering a steak restaurant in the eastern city of Yekaterinburg last month.

The 31-year-old is being held in a former KGB jail in Moscow, where he faces charges of espionage, something that has been flatly denied by both his employer and the US Government. If convicted, he could be behind bars for 20 years.

Mr Gershkovich’s detention comes as a report from the Committee to Protect Journalists shows a record number of reporters were imprisoned in 2022, nearly double that of 2015 and the most since the press-freedom group began tracking imprisonments three decades ago. The report shows 363 journalists detained in more than 30 countries last year, with the highest number of detainees held in Iran, China and Myanmar.

US journalist Evan Gershkovich, arrested on espionage charges, stands inside a defendants' cage before a hearing to consider an appeal on his arrest at the Moscow City Court earlier this week. Picture: AFP via Getty Images

Mr Gershkovich’s case is the first time Russia has brought a spy case against an overseas reporter since the Cold War.

His family have been unable to have any direct contact with him since his arrest, with only his lawyer – and for the first time this week, US Embassy officials in Russia – allowed to visit him.

"[The letter] was obviously hugely heartening for them, given the circumstances,” says Mr Beckett. “He was quite upbeat, making fun of some of his circumstances there. And he teased his mother a bit too, saying the breakfasts that she had made for him growing up had prepared him well for prison food. It was an engaging letter and he signed it using his family nicknames.”

Both of Mr Gershkovich’s parents were from the eastern, predominantly Russian-speaking, area of Ukraine – then part of the Soviet Union – but left for the US in the 1970s, due to persecution of Jews under the Soviet regime. Mr Gershkovich grew up as an ordinary American teenager, but always held on to culture and customs from his parents’ homeland, as well as the Russian language.

The Independent Association of Publishers' Employees and Wall Street Journal journalists rally in Washington, calling for the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been held in Russia since March 29.

After graduating from Bowdoin university in the US, Mr Gershkovich worked as an assistant at the New York Times, then decided to move to Russia, where he worked for media outlets, including the English language newspaper the Moscow Times and Agence France-Presse. He took up a post with the WSJ at the end of 2021 – just weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine – by which time he had comfortably assimilated into Russian life, living with Russian flatmates and playing his favourite Russian pop music.

Colleagues in the WSJ’s London office describe him as a “good-natured guy” who was always smiling, as well as a “complete professional”.

"In many ways, he was extremely well equipped, both by language and heritage to go back [to Russia] and do the job that he was doing,” says Mr Beckett. “By all accounts, he's a guy who just embraces Russia and just really enjoyed life there. Some foreign correspondents go overseas and they keep a distance from where they’re covering and try to be very clinical about it.

“In his case, he just dived right in. He couldn’t get enough of Russia and its people and its culture.”

Paul Beckett is Washington bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, where Evan Gershkovich works.

Mr Beckett says the WSJ was alerted to the fact Mr Gershkovich was in trouble after he failed to attend a pre-arranged check-in with colleagues on the day of his arrest.

Since the invasion of Ukraine, the reporter, who was accredited by the Kremlin's foreign ministry as a correspondent, had been working from Russia in short stints due to visa problems for foreign journalists.

Mr Beckett, his manager, was having dinner in Washington when he was told the company had concerns for Mr Gershkovich’s welfare.

He had recently filed his last piece on the future of the Russian economy and had told colleagues he was to take a trip more than 1,000 miles outside of Moscow to Yekaterinburg, to research his next article. His driver dropped him outside a restaurant, where he was seized by Russian security services. A post on the Russian messaging service Telegram reported security agents had taken a diner from a Yekaterinburg steakhouse with his hood up.

"I got a call from our editor in chief on the Wednesday night,” says Mr Beckett. “Our security folks noticed he had not checked in for his appointed check in, which we take very seriously because of the risks we know exist. Colleagues had not been able to reach him and that escalated very quickly.”

The newspaper immediately informed the US Government of Mr Gershkovich’s arrest.

It is not yet known why Mr Gershkovich was targeted, whether his Ukrainian heritage or his work played a part, or if Russian authorities saw his detention as an opportunity to gain leverage with the West. A campaign, #IStandWithEvan, has been launched to ensure his case is not forgotten. He was recently named on Time magazine’s 2023 100 list of most influential people alongside two detained Iranian journalists, where the publication acknowledged the “essential role of the global press”.

On Tuesday, an appeal for him to be released from pre-trial detention was swiftly rejected by a Russian judge. He can be held legally until May 29. However, it is likely an extension will be granted and his supporters expect that any kind of trial may not take place for a year. He appeared briefly in court for the appeal, where, dressed in jeans and a checked shirt, he gave a brief smile to onlookers.

"Obviously we were disappointed in the continued detention and the rejection of bail on the appeal,” says Mr Beckett, who describes the legal process surrounding Mr Gershkovich’s case as “opaque, obscure and lacking transparency”. Papers relating to the case state only Mr Gershkovich was caught “collecting classified information” on a “military industrial complex” in Yekaterinburg.

“It didn't surprise us very much,” says Mr Beckett. “We've viewed the detention as bogus and the charges that followed that as bogus, so it wasn't a huge surprise that the rule of law didn't kick back in [for the appeal] and it was a predictable outcome.

"It was good to see Evan in person and it appeared that he was in reasonable shape, so that was quite reassuring for us.”

He adds: “We're now bracing for the trial process. Again, we suspect that we'll be outcome will be pre-determined, but that will take many months."

The newspaper has since taken the difficult decision to pull out its other Russian correspondents and warns of a growing free media blackout stretching across swathes of the world.

“Evan is the most recent, probably most prominent example of something we see happening all over the world in repressive regimes – they've become more repressive towards the press,” Mr Beckett says.

He points to China, where many reporters have been barred from working, or expelled from the country.

“If you think about it, you basically have this free media blackout from the Polish border to Japan,” he says. “I think freedom of press issues are becoming more and more significant to all of our lives.

"Last year was the worst for harassment for media; worst murders of journalists and it's troubling how little we know about any of these countries that play a huge role in our lives. Without folks like Evan doing that brave work, how do we know [what we are hearing] is not just propaganda?”