Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been freed as part of the largest and most complex East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War, and his family couldn’t be happier.
Key Takeaways
- Evan Gershkovich freed after 491 days of wrongful detention, was part of the largest East-West prisoner exchange since the Cold War.
- The Gershkovich family expressed immense relief and gratitude to President Biden and other officials involved in securing Evan’s release.
- Evan doesn’t have a wife or girlfriend and is single at the moment.
Evan Gershkovich was kept behind bars for more than a year on a false allegation of espionage.
After finding out the news of his release, his family came out with a statement.
We have waited 491 days for Evan’s release, and it’s hard to describe what today feels like. We can’t wait to give him the biggest hug and see his sweet and brave smile up close. Most important now is taking care of Evan and being together again.
The Gershkovich Family
Similarly, they also thanked the President and whoever others were involved in the process,
We are grateful to President Biden, Secretary Blinken, Jake Sullivan, Chancellor Scholz, and every US or foreign government official who helped get Evan released.
The Gershkovich Family
Gershkovich’s family consists of four members: Evan, his two parents, and a sister. The journalist is yet to be married, so there is no wife in the picture.
Family Ties Of The Journalist
Evan Gershkovich was raised by parents Mikhail Gershkovich and Ella Milman, Jewish immigrants who left the Soviet Union separately in 1979 due to antisemitism and a lack of opportunity.
His parents met and married in the United States and gave birth to two kids, Evan and his sister, Danielle, who is now a university fine arts program administrative assistant.
The kids grew up in both cultures, and they did their best to teach them the Russian language.
Hence, this knowledge became helpful for Evan when he moved to Moscow in 2017 to work for The Moscow Times.
Slowly and gradually, the journalist climbed the ranks and became a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal in 2022.
However, his dream was cut short when he was arrested on March 29, 2023, and kept in Lefortovo, a notorious Moscow prison.
His mother, Ella, exclaimed,
“When I heard the name, it was complete horror.”
Nonetheless, after spending 15 months in prison, he has finally become free and can now enjoy a game of chess with his father in real-time, who previously said,
“I will be just happy to play a face-to-face game of chess with him.”
In Case You Didn’t Know
- Evan Gershkovich was part of the largest prisoner swap, as he and more than a dozen others jailed by the Kremlin were exchanged for Russians held in the U.S. and Europe, including a convicted murderer.
- Before his arrest, he had stayed in Russia for six years.
- He graduated from Bowdoin College, majoring in philosophy and English.
