![]() Gilbert says the arrest of Gershkovich on charges of spying contains many of the hallmarks of wrongful detention, a designation emerging from a 2020 law to support hostages taken overseas. In a December prisoner exchange in the United Arab Emirates, the US brought Griner home by swapping her for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who had been in US custody for over a decade. Last year, Russia arrested WNBA star Brittney Griner for a small drug charge, and then sentenced her to nine years in a penal colony. It’s not just journalists who are under threat. Now, amid Russia’s onslaught on Ukraine, the rules are changing, and this appears to be a major departure for duly credentialed correspondents. The assumption was that having some foreign journalists in Russia was necessary should Russia want its correspondents credentialed in the US and Europe. But they were generally a somewhat protected class, as compared to Russian journalists, who have faced deadly peril. It’s true that Russian authorities have often harassed and surveilled international journalists in the country. But what’s new in this century is that a foreign correspondent has been targeted. Russia has only ever had a limited media ecosystem that has been increasingly constrained since the invasion of Ukraine. The arrest of Gershkovich is not without precedent. As Gilbert put it, “There is always kind of a quiet period of behind-the-scenes conversations and negotiations in hopes that it was a mistake, or that there can be a resolution that does not require a lot of attention or protracted negotiation, that maybe it’s something that can be resolved simply.” There are also likely backroom efforts underway to resolve this as quickly as possible. The US has been working for years to secure the release of Paul Whelan, an American security consultant arrested in 2018 in Russia on espionage charges. It “immediately makes me think the Russians detained him because they think they’re going to try to swap him for Cherkasov in some way, or that it’s retribution for that,” says Danielle Gilbert, a security scholar at Dartmouth College who researches hostage diplomacy.įor now, US diplomats in Russia are almost certainly working to meet with Gershkovich in person. The timing is also notable given that last week the US had indicted suspected Russian spy Sergey Cherkasov, who the Justice Department says was operating as Victor Ferreira, for his activities in Washington. Gershkovich is reportedly the first American journalist arrested in Russia on espionage charges in the post-Cold War era. The more that the US and Russia’s ongoing confrontation over the invasion of Ukraine mirrors a Cold War confrontation, the more likely that reporters who genuinely cover the security aspects are vulnerable to this type of hostage situation. The Journal “vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB,” it said in a statement, and stands “in solidarity with Evan and his family.” He was reporting in the industrial city of Yekaterinburg, about 900 miles east of Moscow, and arrested by the Federal Security Service (FSB), which said, without evidence, that he was “acting on the instructions of the American side,” and “collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.” It’s an escalatory move that shows how much the US-Russia relationship has broken down, and the risks of publishing independent journalism in the country.Įvan Gershkovich is a 31-year-old American citizen who is accredited as a journalist with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. You cannot edit your posts in this forum.Russia has arrested a Wall Street Journal reporter for espionage. You cannot delete your posts in this forum. You cannot reply to topics in this forum. You cannot post new topics in this forum. Let's see if we can get the word from someone who knows! I think it's awkward. I don't think it makes any difference, though. Without the comma, it feels like the whole phrase should be taken together. ![]() It is received, opposite of not received. ![]() ![]() The important point is that it was received, and the thanks are extra. (Or even if it is widely used - I can only give my own experience which is not very corporate!) But I can explain why I used the comma here. I don't know exactly what the standard form is. ![]()
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