Gershkovich, along with several other American citizens ,and others imprisoned in Russia were returned home this week
Evan Gershkovich's friend reacts to reporter's final request to Putin: 'He's still Evan'
Chuck Rollins, a college friend of Evan Gershkovich, says he wasn't surprised the WSJ reporter asked to interview Vladimir Putin following his release and describes Evan as 'the best guy.'
Following the release of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and several other Americans from Russian imprisonment on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal published an in-depth account of the "secret negotiations" that led to the complex trade and Gershkovich's freedom.
The outlet’s sweeping account of the prisoners’ release provided an intimate look at what went into freeing these prisoners and the unlikely heroes who played a part in their return home.
The report highlighted the lesser-known facets of this gripping international story, including how Gershkovich’s mother, Ella Milman, played a key role in negotiations, how the prison swap deal originally involved securing the freedom of anti-Putin figure Alexei Navalny, and Gershkovich's commitment to journalism all the way through the end of his ordeal.
BIDEN CALL RUSSIA PRISONER SWAP DEAL THAT FREED WSJ'S GERSHKOVICH, WHELAN A ‘FEAT OF DIPLOMACY’
Evan Gershkovich followed by his mother Ella Milman, smiles as he arrives at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on August 1, 2024. (ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
The piece also provided intimate details into Gershkovich’s daily routine in the infamous Lefortovo prison during stay there, and mentioned the audacious request he made to Russian president Vladimir Putin, after being released this week.
Here are five takeaways from the WSJ’s account of the "Secret Negotiations to Free Evan Gershkovich."
Gershkovich’s mother played a major role in freeing her son
The outlet showcased the massive role that Milman had in securing her son’s release, which involved her meeting with U.S. and other western heads of state and diplomats like Secretary of State Antony Blinken. She implored them to keep the campaign to free her son and other Americans trapped in Russia at the forefront of their diplomatic duties.
Her ambitious networking during this time – which her son’s outlet noticed and provided support for – got her an audience with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose country had custody of Vadim Krasikov, the Russian hitman that Putin wanted in return for Gershkovich and the other prisoners.
To free Gershkovich and the others would require the German and U.S. governments to work together to negotiate with the Kremlin.
To jolt the U.S. government into being more aggressive in negotiations with Russia, she called out leaders last year on Fox News, saying, "It’s been 250 days and Evan is not here, and the effort to do whatever it takes hasn’t been done."
Milman also confronted Biden at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner earlier this year, telling him to call Scholz to secure the deal. WSJ reported that while in line to shake Biden’s hand, she asked him, "Can you please call Chancellor Scholz?"
Not only did Gershkovich’s mother grease the wheels to secure his release, at one point during his imprisonment she also flew to Moscow for her son’s appeal hearing and requested to be interrogated by her son’s Russian prosecutors to "attest to her son’s good character." Milman was interrogated by Russian authorities for over four hours about her son, the outlet reported. She later called the experience "totally bizarre."
Prisoner swap deal finalized during Biden’s post-debate chaos, Trump assassination attempt
Another interesting wrinkle in the story of Gershkovich’s release is that the deal was finalized during one of the most chaotic periods in modern U.S. political history. It happened in the aftermath of one of the most chaotic political news cycles in modern history: Biden’s disastrous debate against former President Trump, the attempted assassination of the former president just weeks later, and Biden’s exit from the presidential race.
The Wall Street Journal described the scene: "Through June and July U.S. intelligence officials met with their Russian counterparts in Middle Eastern capitals, while German negotiators held their own meetings. In Washington, Sullivan scrambled to sew up the deal just as an open insurrection erupted by Democrats hoping Biden would end his bid for a second term. Biden was hosting a July NATO summit, hoping a lively performance would quell doubts."
RUSSIA RELEASES FORMER MARINE PAUL WHELAN IN PRISONER SWAP
President Joe Biden greets Paul Whelan, who was released from detention in Russia, upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, U.S., August 1, 2024. (Nathan Howard/Reuters)
The piece described how Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told European allies the plan was ready to "operationalize" just before the tragedy at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania.
"Two days later, President Trump took a semiautomatic rifle shot to the ear, a quarter inch from his skull. Trump’s team had heard a deal was coming together. He had repeatedly said Putin would only free Gershkovich after he had won November’s election," the outlet recalled.
The report also noted that Biden was negotiating with the Slovenian government to acquire prisoners it had for the major swap in the hours before he withdrew from the 2024 election. The outlet stated, "Biden called Prime Minister Robert Golob to nudge things along, adding wistfully: ‘I’ve really got to get to Slovenia.’ About an hour later, he announced he was leaving the presidential race."
An inside look into Gershkovich’s prison life
The Wall Street Journal also provided some details of the young reporter’s life behind bars, noting he "was spending 23 hours a day in solitary confinement in a 9-foot-by-12 foot cell in the infamous jail where Stalin’s henchmen once tortured thousands of enemies of the state."
"Set in a pastel yellow complex off a leafy street on Moscow’s outskirts, Lefortovo was run by the FSB and designed to make its inmates feel entirely alone. Its sterile corridors were unnervingly quiet save for the echo of slamming cell doors and the jangling of guards’ keys," the Wall Street Journal reported.
Gershkovich’s captors did allow hm to maintain contact with the outside world through writing letters, but they had to pass through censors. He was also able to receive care packages "with some of the things he didn’t have: dried food, coffee and sugar."
Despite the harrowing conditions, the report detailed how Gershkovich bonded with one of his captors, Russia’s Federal Security Service interrogator Alexei Khizhnyak, during their meetings. They learned they had shared passions for literature and soccer, and Khizhnyak and Gershkovich respectively rooted for archrivals Liverpool and Arsenal.
"Gershkovich was reading ‘Life and Fate,’ the World War II epic by Soviet war correspondent Vasily Grossman, and Leo Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace,’ followed by dozens of other books, which he and Khizhnyak discussed. He was determined to leave prison a better writer than he’d arrived," the Journal reported.
Famous anti-Putin freedom fighter Alex Navalny was part of earlier versions of the swap deal
The WSJ also mentioned how the most prominent leader of opposition to the Russian government, the late Alexei Navalny, was listed as one of the prisoners – Gershkovich included – that Russia would potentially exchange for Krasikov, in an earlier form of the prisoner swap plan.
The outlet reported that earlier this year, Western leaders agreed to "explore Krasikov as the centerpiece of a deal that would free numerous prisoners, including Navalny, Gershkovich, and the former Marine Whelan. Russia would get its spies held in Slovenia and Norway."
After hearing of a potential Navalny swap from Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, who had met with U.S. proponents of the deal, Putin reportedly expressed he was "open" to the idea. However, a short time later, the famous freedom fighter was found dead at the age of 47 in a Russian prison camp.
Gershkovich requested to interview Putin as he left Russia
As part of the protocol for leaving the Russian prison after his release was secured, Gershkovich was required to fill out an "official request for presidential clemency," which was to be addressed to "Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin."
As the piece noted, the form "included a long blank space the prisoner could fill out if desired, or simply, as expected, leave blank." That is where the newly freed Gershkovich made his request.
"In the formal high Russian he had honed over 16 months imprisonment, the Journal’s Russia correspondent filled the page. The last line submitted a proposal of his own: After his release, would Putin be willing to sit down for an interview?"
Gabriel Hays is an associate editor for Fox News Digital.
