‘I’m not losing hope’

Evan Gershkovich’s family received his first letter from Moscow’s pretrial jail

The parents of Evan Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal who was earlier arrested in Russia on espionage charges, received the first letter from their son since his arrest, written in Moscow’s pretrial Lefortovo jail, WSJ reports.

The letter was written by Evan in Russian, the language he uses inside the family. In the letter, Gershkovich says he received a care package, arranged by a friend, and "words of support from the lawyers".

“I love you very-very much and hug you tightly. I received your words of support from the lawyers yesterday. Thank you very much. Until we meet soon. Write to me. — Vanya”, reads the letter, dated 5 April.

Ella Milman, Evan’s mother, said that her son “leavened the letter with gentle teasing of his parents, in an apparent effort to keep his family’s spirits up.”

“Mom, you unfortunately, for better or worse, prepared me well for jail food,” Gershkovich wrote. “In the morning, for breakfast, they give us hot creamed wheat, oatmeal cereal or wheat gruel. I am remembering my childhood.”

Gershkovich also says he is “not losing hope”.

“I want to say that I am not losing hope. I read. I exercise. And I am trying to write. Maybe, finally, I am going to write something good.”

The package Evan received contained sundries such as toiletries, slippers, clothes and pens, to ease his life in confinement. “I now have more clothes and stuff than mom and dad at home, I think,” he wrote.

Ella Milman also added that she felt “great joy” upon receiving the letter, because she is finally hearing firsthand how her son is doing. “These are my son’s words, not someone else telling me,” she said. “And his spirit is shining.”

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) detained the WSJ journalist on 29 March in Yekaterinburg. According to media reports, he spent several weeks in the city and was particularly interested in attitudes of Russians towards the mercenary Wagner Group. While in Yekaterinburg, Gershkovich interviewed local resident Yaroslav Shirshkov who also accompanied him in the city and introduced to other people for the story he was working on.

Meduza reported citing its source in the Western reporter circles that Evan Gershkovich travelled to Nizhny Tagil where the Uralvagonzavod defence industry facility is located in the course of his journalistic work.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has claimed that the WSJ journalist was “caught red-handed”. At the same time, the official conceded that he did not know any details.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has also commented on the development. “What the staffer of The Wall Street Journal was doing in Yekaterinburg has nothing to do with journalism. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that the status of ‘foreign correspondent’, journalist visa, and accreditation are abused by foreigners in our country to cover up activities that have little to do with journalism. It is not the first time that a famous Westerner is caught red-handed,” she wrote.

The Wall Street Journal has issued a statement in support of its staffer.

“The Wall Street Journal vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich. We stand in solidarity with Evan and his family,” the statement reads.