It was a headline that many American journalists yearned to see, in the place they most wanted to see it. Spread across the Wall Street Journal’s homepage on Thursday, in large font, the words: “WSJ Reporter Evan Gershkovich Is Free.”
When I first heard the news that Evan was being released from Russian captivity in an elaborate international prisoner swap, my eyes filled with tears of relief. But my emotions were mixed because I knew how unjustly he had been accused of espionage and how absurd his recent conviction was.
I knew, too, that those 70 weeks in prison would be time that this young man could not reclaim – and that these long months of fear and uncertainty would haunt him. I also knew that the prisoner exchange that made this possible was far from ideal. As CNN’s Matthew Chance put it, it was, by no means, a “like for like” swap, but rather an exchange of criminals for innocents caught up in Vladimir Putin’s power-hungry designs.
It’s a huge geopolitical story. And for me, it’s also personal.
I worked closely with Evan several years ago when I was the New York Times public editor, or reader representative, and he was my editorial assistant. Our “department” in the Manhattan newsroom was made up of just us two, so we talked throughout each day about our work – what readers were upset about, which complaints to focus on, how to respond to others. He got first crack at the 500 or so emails that arrived every week, sorted through them and capably made recommendations to me.
Because Evan – then in his 20s – is slightly younger than my son and slightly older than my daughter, I felt an almost parental bond, and was happy to recommend him when the Wall Street Journal’s Moscow bureau was considering his application. I knew that the Journal would get a talented, hard-working and idealistic young journalist; he is also a fluent Russian speaker with a deep knowledge of the country because his parents had emigrated from the Soviet Union to the United States before he was born. He had worked at the Moscow Times before being hired by the Journal.
I also told the Journal’s hiring editor that Evan is a delightful person – gregarious, funny and easy to get along with.
All of this deepened my outrage when he was arrested under false pretenses in early 2023. The idea that Evan was being charged as a spy was ridiculously off base – clearly something dreamed up to justify treating him as a hostage and a pawn. And seeing grim photos of him over the months in Russian custody and in court made me wonder if he would ever be released. Just weeks ago, he was convicted and given a long prison sentence.
So, his release – along with that of the former US marine Paul Whelan and others – is a triumph in many ways. It’s a testament to the Biden administration’s ability to work with America’s allies, particularly Germany, to find agreement on the exchange. It’s also a testament to the admirable way that the Wall Street Journal staff and many others kept Evan’s name in the news so that his situation stayed in the public consciousness.
But it’s also, sadly, evidence of how well it works for Putin to snatch up innocent people and make political hostages of them. He got what he wanted.
Evan has lost more than a year of his life. No one can know what the long-term effects will be on his mental and emotional health, though his cheerful disposition and his strong relationships with friends and family will help his recovery.
“Today, their agony is over,” Biden said on Thursday as the former prisoners headed home. I’m not so sure. The worst of it is over, but scars will remain, as my former Washington Post colleague, Jason Rezaian, wrongly convicted of espionage in Iran in 2015 and held captive for more than a year, can attest. He spoke in a recent interview about political hostages being treated as bargaining chips or, essentially, property. “The dehumanizing effect” on him and others, he said, can’t be overstated.
Evan, too, will deal with that. I hope that eventually he gets back to his chosen work: the reporting that he was doing so skillfully when he was kidnapped and made a political hostage.
There’s evidence he will. The Journal reported on Thursday that, in his final bureaucratic paperwork (a request for clemency), Evan wrote, in formal Russian, a request: would Putin be willing to sit down for an interview?
There is no true justice here, but if Evan can make a successful return to journalism, my anger may fade. For now, I’m going to revel in the joy.
Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture
