Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested last week in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg. After a closed court hearing, he was locked up in jail for two months, despite strong protests from the United States, the European Union, his employer and fellow journalists.
The journalist, the Wall Street Journal and the White House all deny that Gershkovich was a spy, and more than 30 media organizations and journalist associations pressed the Russian ambassador in Washington last week for his release.
But Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry, points out that the West has not shown the same concern for Russian military blogger Maxim Fomin, who was a staunch supporter of the war in Ukraine. Fomin, a convicted bank robber known as Vladlen Tatarski, was killed in a bomb attack in St Petersburg on Sunday. “Why on earth should we respond to the letter when we see their absolute hypocrisy?” Zakharova said.
Tatarski was also a journalist, she says, “but I have not seen any reaction, collectively or individually, from any of those who signed this letter. And if I’m honest, this call has lost all meaning for me.”
She reiterated Russia’s position that standard operating procedures would allow Gershkovich to speak to an employee of the US consulate in Russia at some point.
LOOK. Shocking images show “moment of attack on Tatarsky”