Authoritarians across the globe are shutting down independent media and locking up reporters. More than 520 journalists are currently imprisoned worldwide, according to the advocacy group Reporters Without Borders. The Wall Street Journal has lifted its paywall to this article that reports on the surge in government crackdowns on the press. https://flip.it/UNAbgy #News#WorldNews#ReportersWithoutBorders#Navalny#EvanGershkovich
"Trump, the presumptive #Republican nominee, has made no public statements on Russia’s detention of Wall Street Journal reporter #EvanGershkovich, who has been held for one year without formal charges or a trial...
#POTUS Joe Biden said on Fri the US will impose costs for Russia's "appalling attempts" to use Americans as bargaining chips in a stmnt to mark the 1-yr anniversary of WSJ reporter Gershkovich's arrest in Russia.
Gershkovich, 32, was the 1st US #journalist arrested on spying charges in Russia since the #ColdWar when he was detained by the #FSB on Mar 29 last yr.
"As I have told Evan's parents, I will never give up hope either. We will continue working every day to secure his release," #Biden said in a stmnt…that called the #journalist's detention "wholly #unjust & #illegal."
"We will continue to denounce & impose costs for #Russia's appalling attempts to use Americans as bargaining chips," Biden added.
The Kremlin said on Thurs complete silence was needed when it came to discussions about possible prisoner exchanges involving #EvanGershkovich.
Asked about when a court would hear #EvanGershkovich's case or whether there would be a prisoner exchange, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry #Peskov told reporters: "We do not have information about the court - it is not our prerogative."
"As for exchange matters, we have repeatedly stressed that there are certain contacts, but they must be carried out in absolute silence," Peskov said, adding that public remarks were a hindrance.
…#US Amb to #Russia Lynne Tracy said…that Evan’s detention is “not about #evidence, #DueProcess, or rule of #law” but about “using American citizens as #pawns to achieve political ends.” The amb may be granting #Putin & his circle too much credit…. #EvanGershkovich is not being held by an ideological superpower playing some great game of chess…. He is being held by #gangsters who consider #hostage-taking normal business practice.
A #PrisonerSwap for #Navalny was in the final stages before the opposition leader’s death
Associates of Russian opposition leader #AlexeiNavalny said Mon that talks were underway shortly before his death to exchange him for a Russian imprisoned in Germany.
“Alexei Navalny could have been sitting here now, today. It’s not a figure of speech,” Maria Pevchikh, who lives outside #Russia, said in a video statement.
German judges said #Krasikov acted on the orders of Russian authorities, who gave him a false identity, passport & resources to carry out the killing.
She didn’t identify the #UnitedStates#citizens that were supposedly part of the deal. There are several in custody in #Russia, incl’g WSJ reporter #EvanGershkovich arrested on espionage charges, & #PaulWhelan, a corporate security exec from Michigan, convicted of espionage & serving a long prison sentence.
German ofcls have refused to comment when asked if there had been any effort by #Russia to secure a #PrisonerSwap of #Krasikov.
U.S. commentator Tucker Carlson earlier this month asked #Putin about the prospects of exchanging #EvanGershkovich & Putin said the Kremlin was open to negotiations. He pointed to a man imprisoned in a “U.S.-allied country” for “liquidating a bandit” [#assassination] who had allegedly killed Russian soldiers during separatist fighting in Chechnya.
Pevchikh alleged in her video that #Putin “wouldn’t tolerate” setting #Navalny free & decided to “get rid of the bargaining chip.” She offered no evidence to back that claim.
Asked at a regular news conference in Berlin about the claim by the Navalny team, German government spox Christiane Hoffmann said she couldn’t comment.
#TuckerCarlson’s assertion was astonishing given that two #journalists who are #UnitedStates citizens are now jailed in Russia: #EvanGershkovich, of The WSJ, who was accused of espionage & seized by #FSS agents last year during a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg, & #AlsuKurmasheva, of #RadioFreeEurope /Radio Liberty’s who has dual U.S. and Russian citizenship and who was arrested in October while visiting #Russia from Prague where she had been living.