Today we mark a painful anniversary: 1 year of American journalist Evan Gershkovich's wrongful detention in Russia.
Journalism is not a crime, and Evan went to Russia to do his job as a reporter, risking his safety to shine the light of truth on Russia's brutal aggression against Ukraine. Shortly after his wholly unjust and illegal detention, he drafted a letter to his family from prison, writing: "I am not losing hope."
As I have told Evan's parents, I will never give up hope either. We will continue working every day to secure his release. We will continue to denounce and impose costs for Russia's appalling attempts to use Americans as bargaining chips. And we will continue to stand strong against all those who seek to attack the press or target journalists, the pillars of free society.
To Evan, to Paul Whelan, and to all Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad: We are with you. And we will never stop working to bring you home.
NOTE: The statement referred to Ella Milman, mother, and Mikhail Gershkovich, father, of Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was arrested by Russian authorities on March 29, 2023; and Paul N. Whelan, a U.S. citizen who was arrested and held on espionage charges by Russian security services in Moscow, Russia, on December 28, 2018.
Joseph R. Biden, Statement on Russia's Detention of United States Citizen Evan Gershkovich Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/371022