Foreign journalists working in the Russian Federation called for the release of Hershkovich

More than 300 foreign journalists, working in Moscow at different times, published an open letter addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Sergei Lavrov, with a call to drop charges of espionage against The Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Hershkovich, who was arrested in Russia, and immediately release him.

The letter was signed by 301 journalists from 22 countries, many of whom have worked in Russia for many years. Among them are former employees of The New York Times Andrew Kramer, Bill Keller and John Kampfner, editor-in-chief of The New Yorker David Remnick, Edward Lucas from the Economist, correspondents of The Guardian Sean Walker and Luke Harding, correspondent of a number of British newspapers Tom Parfitt, former employee of RFE/RL /RS David Sutter and others.

“We all worked in Russia as foreign correspondents, some for a few months, some for decades. We are shocked and appalled by the arrest of our colleague Evan Hershkovich and the charges brought against him.

Evan Hershkovich has a large and impressive experience in journalistic work. We have no doubt that the sole purpose of his work was to inform readers about contemporary reality in Russia. The search for information, even if it goes against political interests, does not make Evan a criminal or a spy, but makes him a journalist. Journalism is not a crime. The arrest of Evan Hershkovich sends an alarming and dangerous signal about Russia’s disregard for independent mass media and demonstrates indifference to the fate of a young, talented and honest journalist,” the letter says.

The correspondent of The Wall Street Journal was detained in Yekaterinburg at the end of March. The court sent him to the Moscow SIZO. The Russian authorities say that the journalist was detained “on suspicion”, without explaining what that means. The FSB said that Hershkovich was allegedly collecting secret information about one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex. The journalist insists on his innocence. Details of the case are not known.

This is the first case of the arrest of an American journalist in Russia on charges of espionage since the Cold War. The US authorities, international journalistic publications and Russian independent journalists have previously called for Hershkovich’s release.