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He was initially remanded in custody until May 29, but a court last month extended his detention until Aug. 30. The United States says he has been wrongfully detained and has called for his immediate release. “We applaud this latest show of bipartisan support from Congress in the fight for Evan’s release. We will not rest until he is free,” Emma Tucker, Wall Street Journal's executive editor, and Almar Latour, CEO of Dow Jones and publisher of The Wall Street Journal, said in a written statement. Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; additional reporting by Dan Whitcomb Editing by Bill Berkrot and Lincoln FeastOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Evan Gershkovich, Read, “, Emma Tucker, Almar Latour, Dow Jones, Paul Whelan, I’ve, Michael McCaul, Kevin McCarthy, Joe Biden, Gershkovich, Patricia Zengerle, Dan Whitcomb, Bill Berkrot Organizations: Wall, U.S . House, Street, House Foreign Affairs, Republican, Democratic, Thomson Locations: Moscow, Russia, WASHINGTON, U.S, Yekaterinburg, Gershkovich, United States, Washington, Ukraine, Lincoln

☆ Congress Steps Up Pressure on Russia Over Jailing of Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Natalie Andrews | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The House of Representatives on Monday debated two resolutions calling for Russia’s immediate release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and businessman Paul Whelan. Photo: Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON—The House is set to vote as soon as Tuesday on resolutions calling on Russia to immediately free jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and businessman Paul Whelan , as Congress looks to keep up the pressure on Moscow and not let their captivity fall out of the spotlight.

Persons: Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, Natalia Kolesnikova Organizations: Wall Street, Getty, WASHINGTON Locations: AFP, Russia, Moscow

☆ Russia arrests U.S. citizen on drug dealing charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

MOSCOW, June 11 (Reuters) - A U.S. musician and former paratrooper has been arrested in Moscow on drug dealing charges and his court appearance, locked in a metal cage, has been shown on state television. "The former paratrooper and a musician, who is accused of running a drug dealing business involving young people, will remain in custody until Aug. 6, 2023." The spokesperson did not say if U.S. officials had yet had consular access to Leake. When Leake initially came to Moscow, he worked as an English teacher and helped translate songs for Russian bands. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen, was arrested in March on espionage charges that he, the Journal and Washington deny.

Persons: Michael Travis Leake, REN, Leake, Brittney Griner, Paul Whelan, Washington, Evan Gershkovich, Guy Faulconbridge, Lidia Kelly, Edmund Klamann, Frances Kerry Organizations: Moscow's, Reuters, REN TV, State Department, U.S ., Street, Washington, Thomson Locations: MOSCOW, U.S, Moscow, Russian, Moscow's Khamovniki, Leake, Russia's, Ukraine, United States, Russia, Washington, Melbourne

☆ How Russia Turned to Imprisoning Americans
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-31 | by ( Brett Forrest | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

U.S. professional basketball player Brittney Griner appears in a Russian court last year after being imprisoned there; she was later freed in a swap. Photo: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty ImagesRussia’s detention in March of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was a breach of international norms, but it also was the latest chapter in a long history. For more than a decade, Moscow has been expressing outrage over several cases in which the U.S. arrested and convicted Russian citizens for various crimes. Over the past five years, the Kremlin has turned to seizing Americans and trading them to reclaim those prisoners.

Persons: Brittney Griner, KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV, Evan Gershkovich Organizations: Getty, Wall Street, Kremlin Locations: AFP, Moscow

☆ Wall Street Journal insiders are bracing for more changes under its new top editor, including layoffs that could hit as early as this week
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Wall Street Journal staffers are bracing for layoff news as early as this week and other changes under its new EIC. Emma Tucker has shaken up the top editor ranks, and insiders expect changes to the editing process. Wall Street Journal staffers are bracing for layoffs and broader changes under new top editor Emma Tucker. People expect Tucker to overhaul the cumbersome front-page editing process for top enterprise stories and deemphasize commodity news in favor of more investigative pieces, with specifics to come as early as June. "She's not afraid to ask questions that are challenging Wall Street Journal orthodoxy," a second insider said.

☆ Lawyers for Evan Gershkovich Appeal Russian Court Decision on His Pretrial Detention
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Alan Cullison | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/lawyers-for-evan-gershkovich-appeal-russian-court-decision-on-his-pretrial-detention-566b5d7d

☆ Missing Their Son, Evan Gershkovich’s Parents Traveled to Moscow for Hearing
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/missing-their-son-evan-gershkovichs-parents-traveled-to-moscow-for-hearing-d4d83bf2

☆ Newsroom insiders are bracing for changes at The Wall Street Journal under its new top editor, including layoffs that could hit as early as this week
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Wall Street Journal staffers are bracing for layoff news as early as this week and other changes under its new EIC. Emma Tucker has shaken up the top editor ranks, and insiders expect changes to the editing process. Wall Street Journal staffers are bracing for layoffs and broader changes under new top editor Emma Tucker. One audio staffer was laid off last week, in keeping with Journal practice to quietly shed people in small numbers. "She's not afraid to ask questions that are challenging Wall Street Journal orthodoxy," a second insider said.

☆ Live updates: Russia's war in Ukraine, Bakhmut news
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Tara Subramaniam | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

I just wish they would turn a little bit more quickly,” said Whelan, who called CNN exclusively from his prison camp in remote Mordovia. Whelan said he does harbor concerns that he could be left behind again — particularly after the Russians wrongfully detained American journalist Evan Gershkovich. The US was unable to secure Whelan’s release in prisoner swaps that brought home two other wrongfully detained Americans last year: Trevor Reed in April and Brittney Griner in December. And I’m told that the government is working tirelessly to get me out of here and to get me home so they can then focus effort on Evan and his case,” Whelan said. The former US Marine was sentenced to 16 years in prison on an espionage charge he vehemently denies.

CNN —After spending more than 300 days in Russian custody last year, Brittney Griner made an emotional return to her WNBA home court in the Phoenix Mercury’s 75-69 defeat by the Chicago Sky. The crowd went crazy in applause as she ran onto the court while giving her teammates high fives. “There might have been a little dust in my eye, a little dusty,” Griner told reporters after the game. Carstens joined Griner at the podium after the game, alongside Representative Shelia Jackson Lee, and said it was “emotional” for them both seeing Griner on the court. BG’s family in the crowd and BG back on the court, doing what BG does best which is playing basketball.

☆ Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger thanked Russia for putting him on 'Russophobia' list and banning him from the country: 'I appreciate them thinking of me'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger thanked Russia for including him on a new travel ban. "I accept that I'm not their cup of Russian tea," he said in a Saturday statement mocking the list. "My inclusion on this list is deserved, and I appreciate them thinking of me." The list, which was released Friday by the Russian Foreign Ministry, named US citizens who aren't allowed to travel to Russia. Gershkovich was detained in the country in March and formally charged with espionage in April.

☆ Exclusive: Paul Whelan tells CNN he's 'positive and confident' the 'wheels are turning' toward release
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Jennifer Hansler | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Paul Whelan, an American who is wrongfully detained in Russia, told CNN on Sunday that he feels confident that his case is a priority for the United States government but wishes it could be resolved faster. “I remain positive and confident on a daily basis that the wheels are turning. I just wish they would turn a little bit more quickly,” said Whelan, who called CNN exclusively from his prison camp in remote Mordovia. However, Whelan said Sunday he has more confidence in the US efforts to get him home than he did when he spoke to CNN in December following Griner’s release. Medical care, dental care is provided privately,” he told CNN.

CNN —Former United States President Barack Obama, late night television host Stephen Colbert, and CNN’s Erin Burnett are some of the “500 Americans” Russia has banned from entering the country. The list includes Obama, former US Ambassador Jon Huntsman, several US senators and the next expected chairman of the joint chiefs Charles Q. The rambling list of names also includes American late night TV hosts Jimmy Kimmel, Colbert, and Seth Meyers. Friday’s list also includes CNN Anchor Erin Burnett and is an update of a previously published longer list of sanctioned individuals that includes CNN’s Chief International Security Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh, CNN contributors Bianna Golodryga and Timothy Naftali. While the list was labelled, “500 Americans,” Paton Walsh is a British citizen.

☆ Russia says 500 Americans to be banned, list includes Obama
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

May 19 (Reuters) - Russia's foreign ministry on Friday said former President Barack Obama was among 500 U.S. citizens who would be banned in response to the latest round of sanctions announced by Washington. The ministry also said Russia had refused the latest U.S. request for consular access to detained Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested in March on suspicion of spying. This move was triggered by the U.S. refusal last month to give visas to media traveling with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to the United Nations, it said in a statement. "Washington should have learned a long time ago that not a single hostile attack on Russia will go unpunished," it added. Earlier on Friday the United States announced punitive measures against more than 300 targets, aiming to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and intensifying one of the harshest sanctions efforts ever implemented.

☆ Russia Says U.S. Has Called to Demand Release of Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Ann M. Simmons | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/moscow-says-white-house-has-made-calls-to-kremlin-demanding-release-of-evan-gershkovich-paul-whelan-71fb459b

☆ Factbox: Who are the three Russian scientists accused of state treason?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( Lucy Papachristou | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

May 18 (Reuters) - Three Russian scientists who have worked on hypersonic missile technology face "very serious accusations" of state treason, the Kremlin says. Maslov was detained early in the morning of June 28 last year in Novosibirsk, according to an interview that his sons Nikolai and Alexei gave to local media. He declined to tell them anything about the possible reasons for his arrest, and they learned from his lawyer that he was being charged with state treason. Kommersant newspaper reported that Maslov was accused of divulging state secrets related to hypersonics, but provided no further details. Born in Siberia, he studied in the aircraft engineering department at Novosibirsk State Technical University.

☆ Moscow Says White House Has Made Calls to Kremlin Demanding Release of Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Ann M. Simmons | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/moscow-says-white-house-has-made-calls-to-kremlin-demanding-release-of-evan-gershkovich-paul-whelan-71fb459b

☆ A former U.S. Embassy employee is being held in Moscow, according to Russia’s state news agency.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Daniel Victor | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Robert Shonov, identified as a former employee of the U.S. Embassy in Russia, was arrested in the Russian city of Vladivostok and charged with conspiracy, according to the Russian state news agency Tass. Vedant Patel, a State Department spokesman, told reporters at a briefing on Monday that he had seen the report but that “I don’t have anything additional to offer at this time.”Tass, quoting an anonymous law enforcement official, said that Mr. Shonov was accused of “collaboration on a confidential basis with a foreign state or international or foreign organization.” He has been taken to Lefortovo Prison in Moscow, Tass reported, and no court date has been set. Being held in isolation is commonplace at Lefortovo, a notorious high-security prison whose inmates currently include Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal correspondent who was accused of espionage in March, charges that his employer and American officials have strongly denied. Also being held at the prison is Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who is serving a 16-year sentence on what the United States has said are fabricated charges of espionage.

☆ Friends of American journalist Evan Gershkovich describe his life before he was arrested and put in one of Russia's most notorious prisons
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-13 | by ( Lauren Frias | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

In March, Russia arrested Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and accused him of espionage. He's being held in Lefortovo, a prison where former inmates said they felt isolated and abandoned. His friends describe the journalist's life in college and living in New York before he was detained. Gershkovich is the first American journalist to be detained on espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War. Former prisoners and those who visited the notorious Russian prison recalled harrowing experiences of isolation — a stark contrast to the life the US journalist was living in New York and Russia before his arrest.

☆ U.S. House Considers Resolution Calling for Russia to Release Evan Gershkovich
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( William Mauldin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-house-considers-resolution-calling-for-russia-to-release-evan-gershkovich-d663adf6

☆ Is Putin’s Russia Worse Than the Soviet State? - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Serge Schmemann | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

That, in fact, may be one major reason many decent Russians feel that Mr. Putin’s Russia — their Russia — is worse than the Soviet state whose demise he laments. They had thought their nation free of the horrible tyranny of its past, and Mr. Putin is not only reviving that but also bringing shame and alienation to their nation. The Soviet Union that these Russians hark back to is the one in its final years, not Stalin’s hell. In their time, the 1970s and early 1980s, the Soviet Union was still a repressive police state that maintained a jealous and iron control on information, art, enterprise and just about every other human endeavor. No old Soviet dissident would deny that the physical quality of life in Russia is far higher than it was in those Spartan times.

☆ Associated Press, New York Times win Pulitzers for Ukraine coverage
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Joseph Ax | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] The New York Times building is seen in Manhattan, New York, U.S., August 3, 2020. Eli Saslow, now with the Times, won the feature writing award for the Post. The annual Pulitzer awards, first presented in 1917, are the most celebrated honors in U.S. journalism. "The Pulitzer Prize board joins the many organizations around the world demanding Evan's immediate release," Brown said. In addition to the international reporting prize, the New York Times took the award for illustrated reporting and commentary.

☆ U.S. Moves to Lower a Bureaucratic Hurdle for Americans Held in Hostile Nations
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Louise Radnofsky | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was detained in Russia on March 29 while on a reporting trip and accused of spying. Here’s a breakdown of the events surrounding his arrest and what comes next. Illustration: Todd JohnsonWASHINGTON—For years, U.S. officials’ ability to share information about Americans held in hostile foreign nations was tied to a permission form that detainees often weren’t able to sign—a bureaucratic impasse that compounded family distress and at times complicated their situations. Under a 1974 law known as the Privacy Act, the U.S. government needs to receive written consent from citizens before sharing information about them with anyone, including relatives. Without the completed paperwork, U.S. officials have been delayed speaking directly about a case, whether that is with a person’s loved ones or an American public whose support can be critical for securing a release.

☆ The Independent Journalists Risking Their Freedom to Keep Reporting From Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-06 | by ( Matthew Luxmoore | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

When Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich appeared in a Russian courtroom last month ahead of a closed court hearing on an allegation of espionage, the microphones and cameras pointed in his direction bore the familiar logos of Russian state-controlled television and news outlets. But among the handful of independent journalists in the building that day, one stayed in the courtroom long enough to deliver a personal message to Mr. Gershkovich from the large community of Russian journalists the Journal reporter counts as friends.

☆ For Americans Still in Russia, Unease Is Often Outweighed by Family Ties
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Ann M. Simmons | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was detained in Russia on March 29 while on a reporting trip and accused of spying. Illustration: Todd JohnsonThe arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has caused unease for many Westerners living in Russia, including Americans who decided to stay after Moscow invaded Ukraine last year. Some U.S. citizens said they have changed their behavior to deflect any risk of repercussion. Several declined to be interviewed or chose to speak anonymously about their reasons for remaining in Russia. However, others were adamant that they are staying in the country because they feel safe and at home there despite heightened tensions between Washington and Moscow.

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