WSJ Reporter’s Parents Speak Out for First Time Since Son’s Arrest in Russia

The parents of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, Mikhail and Ella Gershkovich, speak out for the first time since their son's March 29 detainment in Russia. Credit: Screenshot/WSJ.

The parents of Wall Street Journal reporter (WSJ) reporter Evan Gershkovich have spoken out for the first time since their son’s arrest in Russia.

Russia detained Gershkovich on March 29 on espionage charges, which The Wall Street Journal denied. The detainment was “a shock,” his mother Ella Gershkovich told WSJ in a video interview published on April 14. Evan Gershkovich’s father, Mikhail Gershkovich, said he felt like he “failed in some way as a father” by not warning his son about the dangers of being a journalist in Russia, where there is no freedom of the press.

Ella and Mikhail Gershkovich arrived separately in New York from the Soviet Union in 1979.

As a child, Evan Gershkovich was “very, very curious,” according to his mother, and “loved having fun,” according to his father. The latter said his son had “questions about everything, so he just has this need to desire to learn deeper, find out meaning.”

Evan Gershkovich’s sister, Danielle Gershkovich, expressed “awe” in reading her brother’s reporting in WSJ, which he joined in January 2022.

As it pertained to Evan Gershkovich being one of the few independent journalists in Russia covering Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, which started a month after he joined WSJ, “he felt like it was his duty to report” what was happening, said Ella Gershkovich.

A Dec. 23 in-depth WSJ article with Evan Gershkovich on the byline concerned his mother.

“I think when that article came out about Putin in December, [it] got me worried a lot,” said Ella Gershkovich. “Like my mood was changing.”

On April 10, the State Department designated Evan Gershkovich as “wrongfully detained,” allowing the department to allocate more resources toward securing his freedom. The Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, led by Roger Carstens, has been working to secure Gershkovich’s release.

“Journalism is not a crime. We condemn the Kremlin’s continued repression of independent voices in Russia, and its ongoing war against the truth,” said State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel in a statement announcing that Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the designation.

“The U.S. government will provide all appropriate support to Mr. Gershkovich and his family,” he continued. “We call for the Russian Federation to immediately release Mr. Gershkovich.”

“We also call on Russia to release wrongfully detained U.S. citizen Paul Whelan,” added Patel.

Ella Gershkovich said that despite the dire situation, she is hopeful her son will return home.

“It’s one of the American qualities that we absorbed,” she said. “Be optimistic, believe in [a] happy ending.”