Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich’s trial in Russia on espionage charges is starting Wednesday behind closed doors in the city of Yekaterinburg.

Gershkovich, 32, was arrested in March 2023 in Yekaterinburg on espionage charges, with Russian authorities alleging he was gathering secret information for the CIA, a claim he, his employer and the U.S. government deny.

“Evan Gershkovich is facing a false and baseless charge. … The Russian regime’s smearing of Evan is repugnant, disgusting and based on calculated and transparent lies. Journalism is not a crime,” Wall Street Journal publisher Almar Latour and chief editor Emma Tucker said after his trial date was announced. “We had hoped to avoid this moment and now expect the U.S. government to redouble efforts to get Evan released.”

He is the first known Western journalist to be arrested on espionage charges in post-Soviet Russia.

WSJ REPORTER EVAN GERSHKOVICH SET TO BEGIN ESPIONAGE TRIAL ON JUNE 26

The journalist appeared in the courtroom Wednesday morning in a glass cage, with his head shaven, according to The Associated Press.

Gershkovich’s appeals seeking his release have thus far been rejected.

“Evan has displayed remarkable resilience and strength in the face of this grim situation,” U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy said on the anniversary of Gershkovich’s arrest.

If convicted, which is expected, Gershkovich faces up to 20 years in prison. Russian courts convict more than 99% of defendants and prosecutors can appeal sentences that they believe to be light. Prosecutors can even appeal acquittals.

The Russian Prosecutor General’s office said Gershkovich is accused of gathering secret information on orders from the CIA about Uralvagonzavod, a plant that produces and repairs military equipment about 90 miles north of Yekaterinburg.

If convicted, Gershkovich faces up to 20 years in prison. (NATALIA KOLESNIKOVA/AFP via Getty Images)

Another American detained in Russia, American corporate security executive Paul Whelan, was arrested in Moscow for espionage in 2018 and is serving a 16-year sentence.

Gershkovich’s arrest came about a year after Russian President Vladimir Putin pushed laws that drew concerns about journalism in the country, criminalizing criticism of the war against Ukraine and statements viewed by officials as discrediting the military. 

Foreign journalists largely left the country after the laws passed. Many gradually moved back in subsequent months, but concerns still remained about whether Russian authorities would take action against them.

Several Western reporters have been forced to leave following Gershkovich’s arrest because Russia would not renew their visas.

WSJ REPORTER EVAN GERSHKOVICH ORDERED TO STAND TRIAL IN RUSSIA ON CHARGE OF ‘GATHERING SECRET INFORMATION’

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is escorted from the Lefortovsky court in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Following Gershkovich’s arrest, many feared Russia was targeting Americans amid tensions with the U.S.

Russia has suggested a prisoner exchange for Gershkovich could potentially happen in the future, but such a swap is not possible until a verdict is reached in his case. Putin has floated the idea that he might be interested in freeing Vadim Krasikov, a Russian imprisoned in Germany for the assassination of a Chechen rebel leader.

In 2022, Russia and the U.S. worked out a swap that released WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was serving a 9 1/2-year sentence for cannabis possession in Russia, in exchange for arms dealer Viktor Bout, also known as “the Merchant of Death.”

The Biden administration would likely be sensitive when negotiating a swap for Gershkovich, not wanting to appear to be giving away too much after intense criticism of trading Bout for Griner.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

American journalist Evan Gershkovich went on trial behind closed doors in Russia on charges of espionage 15 months after he was arrested in the city of Yekaterinburg.

The 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter appeared in a glass cage in the Yekaterinburg courtroom on Wednesday, with his head shaven clean and wearing a black-and-blue plaid shirt.

Gershkovich is accused by prosecutors of gathering secret information about Uralvagonzavod, a plant manufacturing tanks for Russia’s war in Ukraine, on the orders of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Prosecutor Mikael Ozdoyev claimed there was proof that Gershkovich “on the instructions of the CIA … collected secret information about the activities of a defence enterprise about the production and repair of military equipment in the Sverdlovsk region”.

The court said the next hearing will be held on August 13.

The US Embassy in Russia on Wednesday called for Gershkovich’s release and said the “Russian authorities have failed to provide any evidence supporting the charges against him, failed to justify his continued detention, and failed to explain why Evan’s work as a journalist constitutes a crime”.

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Today, a Russian court began closed-door proceedings in the case of Wall Street Journal reporter, Evan Gershkovich, who has been wrongfully detained by Russian authorities for more than a year. https://t.co/edWy9MGvPm

— Посольство США в РФ/ U.S. Embassy Russia (@USEmbRu) June 26, 2024

The Journal said the “secret trial” will “offer him few, if any, of the legal protections he would be accorded in the US and other Western countries”.

The reporter, his employer and the United States government vigorously deny the allegations, saying he was just doing his job, with accreditation from Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

On Tuesday, the Journal’s editor-in-chief, Emma Tucker, wrote in a letter to readers that Russian judicial proceedings are “unfair to Evan and a continuation of this travesty of justice that already has gone on for far too long”.

Tucker said: “This bogus accusation of espionage will inevitably lead to a bogus conviction for an innocent man.”

If convicted, Gershkovich faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. A verdict could be months away because Russian trials often adjourn for weeks.

Tucker noted that even covering Gershkovich’s trial “presents challenges to us” and other media “over how to report responsibly on the proceedings and the allegations”.

“Let us be very clear, once again: Evan is a staff reporter of The Wall Street Journal. He was on assignment in Russia, where he was an accredited journalist,” she wrote.

The case, the US Embassy wrote on X, “is not about evidence, procedural norms or the rule of law. It is about the Kremlin using American citizens to achieve its political objectives”.

‘Hostage diplomacy’

The American-born son of immigrants from the Soviet Union, Gershkovich is the first Western journalist to be arrested on espionage charges in post-Soviet Russia.

His detention came about a year after President Vladimir Putin pushed through laws that chilled journalists, criminalising criticism of the war in Ukraine and statements seen as discrediting the military.

After his arrest on March 29, 2023, Gershkovich was held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison. His appeals for release have been repeatedly rejected.

The proceedings will take place behind closed doors, meaning that the media is excluded and no friends, family members or US embassy staff are allowed in to support him.

Putin has indicated that Russia is open to the idea of a prisoner exchange involving Gershkovich and others, claiming that contacts with the US have taken place, but that they must remain secret.

The US has in turn accused Russia of conducting “hostage diplomacy”.

It has designated Gershkovich and another jailed American, security executive Paul Whelan, arrested in Moscow for espionage in 2018, as “wrongfully detained”, thereby committing the government to assertively seek their release.

In its statement, the US Embassy said Russia should stop using people like Gershkovich and Whelan “as bargaining chips”. “They should both be released immediately,” it said.