Calls Grow for Russia to Free Jailed U.S. Journalist Evan Gershkovich, Accused of Espionage

We speak with Joshua Yaffa, a close friend of Evan Gershkovich, The Wall Street Journal reporter who has been jailed in Russia since his arrest last week, when he was accused of trying to obtain state secrets related to the Russian military — days after the United States indicted a Russian man in Brazil on espionage charges. Gershkovich’s parents left the Soviet Union for the United States before he was born, and he has reported in Russia since 2017. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Press freedom groups have denounced his arrest and urged Russia to immediately release him. Yaffa is The New Yorker's Moscow correspondent, where his recent piece is titled “The Unimaginable Horror of a Friend's Arrest in Moscow.” We are also joined by Christophe Deloire, secretary-general and executive director of Reporters Without Borders, which has called Gershkovich a “Russian state hostage.”