US has no idea how WSJ’s Evan Gershkovich treated in Russia

The Biden administration does not “have a sense” of how Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is being treated inside a notoriously “tough” Moscow jail, a White House official admitted today.

Roger Carstens, Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, appeared on “CBS Mornings” Wednesday to discuss the journalist’s plight, saying that despite pursuing a “full-court press” in the case, US officials so far have been unable to meet Gershkovich or gain consular access to him.

But Carstens noted that now that Secretary of State Antony Blinken has declared the 31-year-old reporter “wrongfully detained” in Russia on espionage charges, the government has more tools at its disposal to help secure his release.

“Now that he is wrongfully detained, we start to work on negotiating strategies and working with the Russians to find Evan’s release and not only Evan, but Paul Whelan as well,” Carstens said, referring to the retired Marine who has been languishing in a Russian prison for nearly five years on a spying conviction.

Gershkovich was arrested in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on March 29, accused of attempting to obtain classified information about a military factory – a claim the Wall Street Journal has vehemently denied.

He was charged with espionage and ordered held in the notorious Lefortovo jail in Moscow until at least May 29 — a ruling that Gershkovich’s legal team has appealed.

Biden’s envoy said Whelan was previously detained in the same jail, as were Americans Brittney Griner and Trevor Reed, who have since been released in prisoner exchanges.

“In terms of how he’s being treated right now, we just don’t have the sense,” Carstens said of Gershkovich. “However, in talking to Paul Whelan, in talking to Trevor, in talking to Brittney Griner, that’s a tough prison.”

“If there’s one thing I can say, that prison is famous for its isolation and keeping prisoners in a state of isolation, and that can have a psychological effect,” he said.

Wall Street Journal Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker said last week that Gershkovich was in good health and had been allowed to meet with his lawyers.

Asked about a possible prisoner swap, Carstens declined to get into the specifics of the negotiations with the Russians out of concern that it could hamper the prospect of bringing Gershkovich home, but he did say that “a lot of options are on the table.”

Carstens touted the Biden administration’s record of freeing 26 Americans from captivity overseas in 26 months, and vowed to “find a way to bring Evan and Paul Whelan home.”

Biden reached out to Gershkovich’s family by phone Tuesday and said his administration was doing “everything in its power” to secure the correspondent’s release.

In Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Russia was currently considering granting US diplomats consular access to Gershkovich, but he bristled at what he described as US attempts to “pressure” Moscow over the issue, reported the state news agency TASS.

“We will not tolerate any attempts to pressure us, and it has no significance what status they assign to this person in Washington, alluding to Gershkovich’s designation as “wrongfully detained. “We will act in accordance with our own internal needs, norms and laws that apply in this situation, and nothing more.”