Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Tag: Evan
Wall Street Journal marks 1 year since Evan Gershkovich’s detention in Russia
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Russia is rounding up more journalists a year after the arrest of Evan Gershkovich
Six journalists working for independent media outlets in Russia were arrested in a span of just a few hours this week on the eve of the anniversary of American reporter Evan Gershkovich’s detention in the city of Yekaterinburg.
The journalists include Antonina Favorskaya, who covered the late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Thursday.
Favorskaya, who works for the independent Russian media outlet SOTA Vision, is accused of “extremist activities” because of her coverage of Navalny and his work, the media freedom organization said in a statement.
On Friday, Gershkovich marked the grim milestone of one year in Russian detention. Shortly after his arrest, the Wall Street Journal reporter was charged with espionage — an accusation vehemently denied by Gershkovich, his employer and the US government. He was the first journalist to be arrested on such charges since the Cold War, and the Russian government has yet to provide any evidence to support its claim.
Favorskaya is the journalist who filmed what would later become Navalny’s last video before he died. The opposition activist could been seen laughing and joking as he appeared at a court hearing via video link from the penal colony where he was serving his sentence.
The Investigative Committee, Russia’s equivalent of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, had requested Favorskaya’s arrest for “participating in an extremist organization,” Russian state news agency TASS has reported.
According to the independent outlet Mediazona, over the last two years Favorskaya covered all of Navalny’s court hearings and traveled to the penal colonies where he was serving his sentence. She also followed developments at the cemetery where Navalny was buried.
The six journalists, including Favorskaya, were arrested on Wednesday and Thursday, RSF said.
“With six new arrests in a span of a few hours, accompanied by violence, threats and searches, the authorities are stepping up their persecution of the last independent journalists and media in Russia,” said Jeanne Cavelier, head of RSF’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia desk.
“RSF condemns the arbitrary arrests and unacceptable violence against these journalists,” Cavelier added.
Favorskaya was arrested while she was being released after spending 10 days in detention in Moscow on a charge of “disobeying the police,” RSF said.
She was detained along with two other journalists, Alexandra Astakhova and Anastasia Musayeva, who came to meet her and are now “involved in the case as witnesses,” according to SOTA Vision. “All three were searched.”
For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com
1 year after Evan Gershkovich’s arrest in Russia, Biden vows to “continue working every day” for his release
Washington — President Biden pledged Friday to “continue working every day” to secure the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich from Russian detention, as the American journalist’s time imprisoned in Russia hit the one-year mark.
“We will continue to denounce and impose costs for Russia’s appalling attempts to use Americans as bargaining chips,” Mr. Biden said in a statement released Friday that also mentioned the case of Paul Whelan, another U.S. citizen who has been held in Russia since 2018.
Gershkovich — whom the U.S. State Department deemed “wrongfully detained” soon after his arrest — is still awaiting a trial on espionage charges that the White House, his family and his employer all insist are fabricated, but which could still see him sentenced to decades in prison.
The U.S.-born son of Soviet emigres covered Russia for six years, as the Kremlin made independent, on-the-ground reporting increasingly dangerous and illegal.
NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP/Getty
His arrest in March 2023 on charges of spying — the first such charge against a Western journalist since the Soviet era — showed that the Kremlin was prepared to go further than ever before in what President Vladimir Putin has called a “hybrid war” with the West.
The Journal and the U.S. government dismiss the espionage allegations as a false pretext to keep Gershkovich locked up, likely to use him as a bargaining chip in a future prisoner exchange deal.
Putin said last month that he would like to see Gershkovich released as part of a prisoner swap, but the Biden administration has said Moscow rejected the most recent exchange offer presented to it.
The 32-year-old, who has been remanded in custody until at least the end of June, faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.
The Gershkovich family said in a letter published by the Wall Street Journal on Friday that they would pursue their campaign for his release.
“We never anticipated this situation happening to our son and brother, let alone a full year with no certainty or clear path forward,” they said. “But despite this long battle, we are still standing strong.”
Gershkovich reported extensively on how ordinary Russians experienced the Ukraine conflict, speaking to the families of dead soldiers and Putin critics. Breaking stories and getting people to talk was becoming increasingly hard, Gershkovich told friends before his arrest.
But as long as it was not impossible, he saw a reason to be there.
“He knew for some stories he was followed around and people he talked to would be pressured not to talk to him,” Guardian correspondent Pjotr Sauer, a close friend, told AFP. “But he was accredited by the foreign ministry. I don’t think any of us could see the Russians going as far as charging him with this fake espionage.”
Speaking to CBS News’ Leslie Stahl last week, the reporter’s sister Danielle said the family back in the U.S. was still worried, despite Gershkovich’s repeated assurances to them of his accreditation, which he thought would keep him safe, as it always had.
But as Stahl reported, what used to be unprecedented in Russia has become almost routine under Putin. Gershkovich is only the most recent American to inadvertently become a pawn on Putin’s geopolitical chessboard against the West.
Whelan, a U.S. Marine veteran, has been jailed in Russia for five years. Russian-American ballerina Ksenia Karelina was arrested in January, accused of treason for helping Ukraine. And basketball star Brittney Griner, imprisoned for nine months on drug charges, was finally freed in an exchange for a notorious arms dealer known as the “Merchant of Death.”
Illinois stabbing survivors describe attack and Evan Gershkovich detained for a year: Morning Rundown
An Illinois mother credits her son and dog with saving her life during a stabbing spree that left four people dead. Two former presidents — and dozens of protesters — attend Joe Biden’s fundraiser. And shadowy Russian actors were all too happy to spread Princess Kate conspiracies.
Here’s what to know today.
Family attacked in Illinois stabbing spree describes the fight to survive
When Rockford, Illinois, resident Darlene Weber came face-to-face with an attacker who entered her house, she said, “He looked like the devil incarnate.” A day later, Weber said that if it wasn’t for her son, she might not have survived.
A 22-year-old man is accused of going on a rampage through Rockford, Illinois, on Wednesday afternoon, ultimately killing four people and injuring seven others — including Weber and her two kids.
Recalling the attack in an interview yesterday, Weber said it felt like “it all happened in such a blink of an eye.” She took her pit bull, Brandy, out the back door, she said, and heard a man say “hey” to her before he stabbed her in the face. As Weber crawled through the house screaming for her son to help her, Brandy bit the man. It gave her enough time to escape.
When Weber’s son, 21-year-old Jacob Vollman, went to find his mom, he was confronted by the attacker. “And he literally looks at me and says, ‘Come here,’ and starts charging at me,” Vollman said.
This is Morning Rundown, a weekday newsletter to start your morning. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.
After a couple of minutes fighting with Vollman, the attacker turned his attention to Weber’s daughter, 23-year-old Cathy Gilfillan — but Vollman was able to keep fighting him off. “If it wasn’t for him,” Gilfillan said, referring to Vollman, “me and mom would not be here.”
Read the full story here.
Authorities identified the suspect as Christian Soto. He was arrested on charges of murder, attempted murder and home invasion. Soto’s attorney said he admitted to the crimes and that he had taken marijuana he believed was “laced with an unknown narcotic,” causing him to become paranoid.
Among those killed are Jay Larson, a mail carrier who was on the job when he was attacked, and 15-year-old Jenna Newcomb, who died saving her sister, officials said. Here’s what else we know.
Pro-Palestinian protesters pressure Biden at NYC fundraiser
Former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton joined President Joe Biden in a star-studded campaign fundraiser last night that was hosted by actor Mindy Kaling, featured photos taken by Annie Leibovitz and raised over $25 million. But anti-war protesters made their presence known at the event.
Over 100 people crowded outside Radio City Music Hall with Palestinian flags and signs with anti-war slogans. “We cannot idly sit by as our president aides and abets genocide in Gaza,” one protester said. Inside the fundraiser, protestors interrupted a moderated discussion between Biden, prompting late night host Stephen Colbert to ask Biden about the U.S. role in a peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians.
Biden responded with talk of diplomatic efforts towards a two-state solution and acknowledged that more needed to be done to shepherd relief into Gaza but added that Israel’s existence was at stake. Here’s what else happened at the fundraiser.
Read more Israel-Hamas war coverage:
- Recent polling suggests most Jewish Israelis support Israel’s offensive in Gaza. But at a Ramadan meal with Palestinian Bedouin, some shared a different view.
- A State Department official’s resignation and increasing disapproval of Israel’s conduct in Gaza shows how U.S. ire toward its ally is growing.
- Israel’s Supreme Court on ordered an end to state funding for ultra-Orthodox students who do not serve in the army, a blockbuster ruling that could imperil the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Baltimore bridge workers were on break at time of collapse, family member says
Just days after the container ship Dali collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge, details about the incident and what happened to the workers are still unfolding. Julio Cervantes was one of two workers rescued following the collapse — a miracle, his wife said, because “my husband doesn’t know how to swim.”
“All of the men were on a break in their cars when the boat hit. We don’t know if they were warned before the impact,” Cervantes’ wife, who did not disclose her name, said in an exclusive interview. Cervantes was taken to a nearby hospital after the rescue with a chest wound and later released.
Cervantes’ wife says her brother-in-law was one of the two victims recovered near the wreckage site earlier this week. And her nephew is one of the four victims still missing, she said.
The shadowy actors that spread Princess Kate conspiracies
Before Kate, Princess of Wales, announced she had been diagnosed with cancer, #KateGate conspiracies speculating about her whereabouts ran wild on the internet. British security experts say social media accounts linked to a prominent Russian disinformation campaign capitalized on the rumors.
Roughly 45 accounts that posted about Kate on X were identified as belonging to the disinformation campaign, known as the Doppelgänger, an analysis found. While these actors didn’t originate the rumors, they contributed to the rumors’ rampant spread.
Experts say they see #KateGate as an alarming test case for what can happen when fake news and disinformation is supercharged by artificial intelligence, particularly on social media.
‘We want him home’: Family of U.S. reporter jailed in Russia for a year tries to stay hopeful
Even as a child, Evan Gershkovich seemed destined to be a reporter. He was always curious, liked a good story, and was deeply interested in Russia, the country his parents had emigrated from.
He was there, as Russia instituted the biggest crackdown on the free press in decades — one that would ensnare him, left awaiting trial on espionage charges that many in the West decry as punishment for doing his job. NBC News spoke to his family and some of his closest friends as his detention reached a year today.
Michigan GOP lawmaker falsely labels March Madness athletes ‘illegal invaders’
A Michigan state lawmaker involved in former President Donald Trump’s election denials is being widely criticized making false claims that buses carrying college athletes to Detroit for March Madness were shuttling illegal migrant “invaders” into the city.
State House Rep. Matt Maddock made the claim Wednesday night in a social media post accompanied by photos of three buses near an Allegiant plane at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Maddock wrote that the buses “just loaded up with illegal invaders.” Four college basketball teams traveling to Detroit for the second weekend of the NCAA basketball tournament arrived by plane Wednesday evening, the Wayne County Airport Authority said in a statement.
Politics in Brief
Biden impeachment probe: Joe Biden was formally invited to testify in the impeachment inquiry led by two Republican-led House committees — during the same week one of Donald Trump’s trials is set to begin.
South Carolina politics: The same federal court that previously ruled a Charleston-area district was unlawfully drawn decided yesterday that the map must be used for this year’s congressional election. The reason for the decision: The Supreme Court delayed the case for too long.
Arizona politics: Kari Lake, a self-proclaimed “Trump in heels” who lost the Arizona gubernatorial race in 2022, is working to win over voters in her Senate bid. But several key Republicans in the state say her campaign faces an increasingly uphill battle as she struggles to shed her MAGA instincts.
Want more politics news? Sign up for From the Politics Desk to get exclusive reporting and analysis delivered to your inbox every weekday evening. Subscribe here.
Staff Pick: Multiple women report being punched in broad daylight
Reporter Mirna Alsharif was among the first to cover this story of women in New York City sharing videos on social media in which they said they were punched by men while they were walking the streets in broad daylight. With help from the NBC News’ social newsgathering team (more on what they do here), she verified that NYPD was investigating two incidents. She also highlighted how many women online have since expressed feeling uneasy. — Saba Hamedy, culture & trends editor
Select: Online Shopping, Simplified
If you want a good cardio session but don’t want to brave the elements, an indoor exercise bike may be the way to go. Here are the 13 best budget exercise bikes on the market, all priced under $500.
Sign up to The Selection newsletter for exclusive reviews and shopping content from NBC Select.
Thanks for reading today’s Morning Rundown. Today’s newsletter was curated for you by Elizabeth Robinson. If you’re a fan, please send a link to your family and friends. They can sign-up here.
Parents of Evan Gershkovich speak out almost a year after reporter was detained in Russia
IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.
-
After the Baltimore bridge disaster, inspiration from the words of Francis Scott Key
00:44
-
Biden and Harris campaign together in North Carolina
01:44
-
View from the air of the collapsed bridge and the cargo ship
02:11
-
Known associate of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs arrested in raids, law enforcement source says
00:57
-
Baltimore bridge collapses after being struck by cargo ship
03:33
-
Now Playing
Parents of Evan Gershkovich speak out almost a year after reporter was detained in Russia
02:10
-
UP NEXT
High court hears arguments over sale of abortion pills
02:16
-
Investigators search for answers in bridge collapse
02:30
-
Shohei Ohtani says interpreter stole from his account and ‘told lies’
01:45
-
Feds search homes of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, sources say
02:22
-
The biggest question about Trump’s Truth Social merger
02:23
-
Mourning in Moscow for terrorist attack that killed 137
01:21
-
Famed waiters’ run returns to Paris
01:27
-
Boeing CEO announces he’ll step down amid quality control failures
02:20
-
Trump’s court cases and his campaign intersect
00:30
-
Home sales up nationwide even as prices rise and mortgage rates remain high
01:34
-
A modern-day woolly mammoth may be just a few years away, biotech company says
02:49
-
Mom fights off daughter’s would-be kidnapper down 4 flights of stairs
01:42
-
Fire breaks out on Carnival cruise and 2 crew members killed aboard Holland America ship
01:41
-
Death toll climbs as Russia holds day of mourning for terror attack victims
01:33
-
After the Baltimore bridge disaster, inspiration from the words of Francis Scott Key
00:44
-
Biden and Harris campaign together in North Carolina
01:44
-
View from the air of the collapsed bridge and the cargo ship
02:11
-
Known associate of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs arrested in raids, law enforcement source says
00:57
-
Baltimore bridge collapses after being struck by cargo ship
03:33
-
Now Playing
Parents of Evan Gershkovich speak out almost a year after reporter was detained in Russia
02:10
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich’s detention in Russia nears 1 year mark
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Russia extends arrest of U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has already spent nearly a year in jail
A Moscow court on Tuesday ordered Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich to remain in jail on espionage charges until at least late June, court officials said.
The 32-year-old U.S. citizen was arrested in late March 2023 while on a reporting trip and has spent nearly a year behind bars. His arrest was extended until June 30.
Photos from the courtroom released by court officials showed Gershkovich, clad in a black checkered shirt, smiling from the glass defendant’s box.
Gershkovich and his employer have denied the allegations, and the U.S. government has declared him to be wrongfully detained.
His arrest in the city of Yekaterinburg rattled journalists in Russia, where authorities have not detailed what, if any, evidence they have to support the espionage charges.
Gershkovich is being held at Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, which is notorious for its harsh conditions.U.S. ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy attended the court hearing on Tuesday and reiterated that “the accusations against Evan are categorically untrue.”
“They are not a different interpretation of circumstances. They are fiction,” Tracy told reporters outside of the courthouse. “No justification for Evan’s continued detention, and no explanation as to why Evan doing his job as a journalist constituted a crime. Evan’s case is not about evidence, due process or rule of law. It is about using American citizens as pawns to achieve political ends.”
Analysts have pointed out that Moscow may be using jailed Americans as bargaining chips in soaring U.S.-Russian tensions over the Kremlin’s military operation in Ukraine. At least two U.S. citizens arrested in Russia in recent years — including WNBA star Brittney Griner — have been exchanged for Russians jailed in the U.S.
Gershkovich is the first American reporter to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since September 1986, when Nicholas Daniloff, a Moscow correspondent for U.S. News and World Report, was arrested by the KGB. Daniloff was released without charge 20 days later in a swap for an employee of the Soviet Union’s U.N. mission who was arrested by the FBI, also on spying charges.
The long struggle to free Evan Gershkovich from a Moscow prison
On March 29, 2023, Evan Gershkovich was on assignment in Russia when he was arrested by security forces and accused of being a spy, a charge vigorously denied by Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal, and the U.S. government.
Look around the Wall Street Journal offices in Manhattan, and you’ll see Gershkovich, the hostage, everywhere – on buttons, cards, shirts, and screens that stop you in your tracks.
Emma Tucker, the Journal’s editor-in-chief, said that – unlike the Iran hostage situation, when the U.S. government told families to avoid publicity and let the government quietly negotiate – her instinct was to draw attention to Gershkovich’s detainment. “Because it was so clearly outrageous,” she said. “He was accredited. He was doing his job. He had done nothing wrong. My sense of justice was offended by what had happened.”
CBS News
Gershkovich was the first reporter to be taken into custody like this since the Cold War.
When asked why him, Tucker replied, “It’s very hard to know. Is it because he works for the Wall Street Journal, which is a recognizable, famous American title? Is it because he’s of Russian heritage? I wish I knew.”
What is known is that Gershkovich is being held in a Stalin-era prison in Moscow. His pre-trial detention has been extended several times. Court appearances have been few but jarring.
Natalia KOLESNIKOVA/AFP via Getty Images
“It was horrible,” Tucker said, of seeing Gershkovich in court. “There’s something so dehumanizing about those glass cages. I was surprised at the shock I felt at seeing it. So, goodness only knows what his parents felt when they saw it. So yes, it was a shock. At the same time, he was standing tall. He looked defiant. He smiled. So, mixed emotions.”
In her apartment, where her younger brother would crash on the couch, Danielle Gershkovich said his calling was never in question. “I think he was born to be a journalist,” she said. “He, I think, had always been seeking a life of adventure. And his travel, his writing. Working at the Wall Street Journal as a Russia correspondent was his absolute dream job.”
Children of Soviet emigres who spoke Russian at home, Danielle and Evan have always been close. Hearing that he was in custody was shattering.
CBS News
“I got a call from my mom,” she said. “And it’s just, my stomach fell out, you know? Your heart stops. It’s so hard to believe that something like that is actually real. And I remember my mom and I discussing the morning after: ‘Is that really Evan, that photo that came out?’ We didn’t want to admit for a moment that that was him.”
Stahl asked, “Did you think [detention] was a possibility? Russia a year ago had already become dangerous. Other news organizations were pulling reporters out.”
“I would say my whole family was nervous,” Danielle replied. “He would always remind us, he’s an accredited journalist.”
And, therefore, (supposedly) safe. “It’s very unprecedented,” Danielle said.
Of course, what was unprecedented has become almost routine under Russian President Vladimir Putin. Gershkovich is the latest American pawn on Putin’s geopolitical chessboard against the West.
Marine veteran Paul Whelan has been jailed in Russia for five years; Russian-American ballerina Ksenia Karelina was arrested in January, accused of treason for helping Ukraine; and basketball star Brittney Griner, imprisoned for nine months on drug charges, was finally freed in an exchange for a notorious arms dealer known as the “Merchant of Death.”
Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, who fled Russia in 2013, is one of Putin’s most fervent critics. When asked if he fears for his life, he replied, “Would it help?”
Kasparov was recently named by the Kremlin to its registry of people it considers to be terrorists and extremists. He calls it “a badge of honor.”
Stahl asked, “Putin just gets stronger and stronger, it seems, rather than the other way, which you predicted once that he would be on the downswing?”
“Putin’s strength is very much result of [the West’s] weakness,” Kasparov replied. “Any sign of indecisiveness, any sign of hesitation feeds Putin with power. Because [he’ll say], ‘Ha, ha, yes, I can do this, I can do that. Nothing will happen.'”
He believes there is no chance that Gershkovich would be acquitted of charges. “Putin treats Gershkovich as money or weapons,” he said. “This is one of the tools of him staying in power. So, he’ll be negotiating.”
WEB EXTRA: Garry Kasparov on how Western indecisiveness emboldens Putin (YouTube Video)
Putin himself has made that clear. He said he was open to a prisoner swap involving Gershkovich, Whelan, and a deal for opposition leader Alexey Navalny right before he died in a Russian prison last month.
Roger Carstens, the U.S. Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, said, “What I can tell you is that the United States has been negotiating with the Russians.” He did not deny that a swap was in the works, and it fell apart when Navalny died. “We had a strong offer that went at the end of last year,” Carstens said. “The Russians rejected it. I was rather disappointed, but it might not have been entirely a huge surprise. But our goal now is to keep working with partners, allies, and to find that combination that’s going to allow us to solve it.”
Stahl asked, “How many Americans are being held hostage in the world?”
“My numbers at one point were over 50,” said Carstens. “They’re now down in-between 20 and 30. We always hesitate to give out an exact number for various reasons. In the last three years, the Biden-Harris administration has brought back 46 Americans that were wrongfully detained or held hostage. It’s a team effort; it’s members of U.S. government, members on Capitol Hill, non-profits, NGOs, allies, partners, and even members of the media that all seem to work together to bring those people home.”
Carstens reiterated that Evan Gershkovich has never worked for the U.S. government. “He’s not a spy; he’s a journalist,” he said. “And journalism should not be a crime.”
Gershkovich spends 23 hours a day in his cell. Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Emma Tucker says he’s allowed to send and receive letters, as long as they’re in Russian. She described Gershkovich as “a resilient character. He’s an extrovert, he’s a people person.”
And his health? “I think his health is okay; his mom looks very closely whenever there are shots of him [on TV],” Tucker said. “I think there’s limits to how much exercise he can do. I can only imagine what the food is like. But he’s meditating. He’s practicing and getting ever better at Russian. He’s reading in Russian.”
And he even managed, from prison, to deliver something very special to his sister, Danielle: Flowers, which arrived for International Women’s Day on March 8. “He’s always thinking about us, and finding ways to make us smile,” Danielle said.
Stahl said, “From the minute I walked in here, your eyes keep watering. It’s hard for you to talk about, or not? Maybe it helps you?”
“Maybe it’s that bittersweet moment where I’m looking at his photos,” Danielle said. “I wish I didn’t have to do this, but talking about my brother is always … it makes me smile. I miss him so much.”
For more info:
Story produced by Gabriel Falcon. Editor: Ed Givnish.
See also:
Lesley Stahl
Evan Gershkovich’s first year in captivity in a Moscow prison
Watch CBS News
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.