Former President Donald Trump boasted in a 1:30 a.m. post to his Truth Social platform on Thursday that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich would be released from Russian prison “immediately” if he his elected this November.
Gershkovich, a 32-year-old Bowdoin graduate, has been held in Moscow’s Lefortovo Prison for over a year following his arrest on espionage charges on March 29, 2023, while working for the Journal in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg — the first American journalist to be arrested on charges of spying in Russia since the Cold War.
Gershkovich, his family, the WSJ and the U.S. government have denied the spying allegations, and have declared Gershkovich to be wrongfully detained.
“Evan Gershkovich, the Reporter from The Wall Street Journal, who is being held by Russia, will be released almost immediately after the Election, but definitely before I assume Office,” Trump wrote in his early morning post.
“He will be HOME, SAFE, AND WITH HIS FAMILY. Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, will do that for me, but not for anyone else, and WE WILL BE PAYING NOTHING!” he added.
Trump has previously touted his “close relationship” with the Russian president, and has claimed that Russia never would have invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Putin, for his part, has stated that he would prefer President Joe Biden elected as president this November, saying Biden is “more experienced” and “more predictable” than Trump.
Evan Gershkovich’s parents, Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich, attended President Biden’s State of the Union speech in March.
The Biden administration has reportedly been working on securing a prisoner swap to secure his release, alongside other American prisoners in Russia including U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, but a deal has yet to emerge.
