‘Journalism isn’t against the law’
Many journalists who mentioned they knew Gershkovich expressed their shock over his arrest, writing on Twitter that he’s well-respected within the subject.
“Our greatest good friend and fully skilled journalist Evan Gershkovich has been detained in Russia for doing his job and have to be launched instantly,” wrote Polina Ivanova, a correspondent with the Monetary Occasions. “Journalism isn’t against the law. The allegations are ridiculous.”
Joshua Yaffa, a reporter for The New Yorker, praised Gershkovich for persevering with to report on Russia throughout its invasion of Ukraine and mentioned the allegations in opposition to him are “clearly false.”
“Information that my good friend, colleague, and totally skilled reporter @evangershkovich has been detained whereas doing his job in Russia. Hope and belief he’ll be launched imminently. Goes w/out saying, journalism isn’t against the law,” Yaffa wrote.
Washington Submit reporter Robyn Dixon mentioned she is aware of and “admires” Gershkovich and referred to as him a “extremely revered, wonderful journalist.”
Journalist and writer Leonid Ragozin mentioned in a tweet, “I do know @evangershkovich personally and he’s very clearly not a spy, however an excellent journalist. The Kremlin has taken him hostage.”
Gershkovich was born within the U.S. to Russian-speaking dad and mom. His mom and father are from the previous Soviet Union and fled within the Eighties.
His household couldn’t be instantly reached at cellphone numbers listed for them.
Adolescence in New Jersey
Gershkovich grew up in Princeton in central New Jersey and went to Princeton Excessive Faculty, the place he dominated in soccer, incomes 4 varsity letters, in accordance with his bio on Bowdoin School’s athletic web page.
In 2007, he helped lead his membership soccer group to the Area I Semifinals and the New Jersey State Championship.
Wayne Sutcliffe, a bodily schooling trainer at Princeton Excessive Faculty and head soccer coach, recalled how Gershkovich was a pacesetter on the group.
“I knew Evan Gershkovich properly. He was captain of the Princeton Excessive Faculty 2009 soccer group, which gained the New Jersey State Championship,” he mentioned in an announcement. “I’ve been fielding textual content messages all morning from our Princeton Excessive Faculty soccer alumni, all of whom are looking for a method we can assist to help Evan’s household.”
Princeton Public Faculties mentioned Gershkovich was an “excellent scholar and an distinctive athlete.” It mentioned it shares within the considerations over his detainment.
“It has been a troublesome morning for Princeton Excessive Faculty alumni, notably the numerous PHS soccer gamers who had been near Mr. Gershkovich,” the district mentioned.
Gershkovich additionally performed soccer at Bowdoin, a personal liberal arts faculty in Brunswick, Maine, the place he was a philosophy main. The varsity mentioned in a assertion that he has been an energetic alumnus and would mentor Russian majors.
‘He cares loads … in regards to the Russian individuals’
Jeremy Berke, an in depth private good friend who has identified Gershkovich since their freshman yr of faculty, describes him as maybe the “most outgoing, extroverted human” he’s ever met.
“I don’t need this to be some opaque worldwide incident, that is my good friend,” Berke mentioned. “The world ought to know that everybody who’s buddies with him, everybody in his orbit, he’s the middle of their world.”
His gregarious and personable nature is a part of what makes him such a great journalist, drawing individuals in and making them really feel as in the event that they had been a very powerful individual within the room, Berke mentioned.
“It’s exhausting to explain with out realizing him, however no matter you’re saying: he’s absolutely engaged, he’s with it, he’s encouraging you to maintain speaking,” Berke mentioned.
Gershkovich labored on their faculty paper, The Bowdoin Orient, and was at all times an incredible author, Berke mentioned. But it surely wasn’t till Gershkovich freelanced for English-language publications throughout his time overseas in Thailand in faculty that Berke thinks his good friend acquired the journalism “bug.”
That inevitably led to what Gershkovich felt was his calling: reporting on Russia.
“He cares loads about Russia and the Russian individuals,” Berke mentioned.
Profession in journalism, dangers in Russia
After graduating from faculty in 2014, Gershkovich started his journalism profession as a information assistant at The New York Occasions earlier than being employed as a reporter by The Moscow Occasions in 2017, his LinkedIn profile says. He labored there for 3 years earlier than shifting on to the Agence France-Presse after which to The Wall Road Journal.
He was employed by the Journal in January 2022 and covers Russia, Ukraine and the previous Soviet Union. In a 2020 interview posted on Bowdoin’s web site, he briefly mentioned the difficulties of being a journalist in Russia.
“Whenever you begin reporting in Russia, you typically hear that it is going to be very exhausting to get individuals to speak. And whereas that could be true of Russian officialdom — although not all of it —I’ve discovered that should you go searching for the best individuals, a lot of them wish to inform their tales,” he mentioned.
Gershkovich is the primary journalist with an American outlet to be arrested on espionage expenses in Russia because the Chilly Struggle.
Lately, People have been straight focused by the Russian authorities for what the U.S. says are politically motivated arrests. One of the high-profile espionage circumstances is Paul Whelan, a U.S. company safety govt who has been imprisoned in Russia since 2018.
In December, the U.S. negotiated the discharge of Phoenix Mercury heart Brittney Griner in alternate for Russian arms seller Viktor Bout. Griner, who performed basketball in Russia through the WNBA’s offseason, was arrested for having vape canisters with hashish oil in her baggage. She pleaded responsible however mentioned she had no felony intent.
Matthew Bodner has identified Evan Gershkovich since 2017 and considers him a good friend.
