Evan Gershkovich
By 
Speaking of Russian imperialism, Evan Gershkovich has now been arbitrarily detained by Putin for a full year:
Evan Gershkovich was supposed to be with his friends in Berlin the first week of April 2023.
The Wall Street Journal Russia correspondent was set to stay in an Airbnb in the edgy Neukölln neighborhood, a base to explore the city’s cobble-lined streets with his tightknit crew of journalist pals exiled there from Moscow. He was going to drink coffee in hipster cafes and chat into the night over glasses of beer.
It was the start of his stolen year.
Russian authorities detained Evan in Yekaterinburg on March 29, 2023, and threw him into a jail cell in Moscow. He was a fully accredited journalist on a reporting trip and was detained on an allegation of espionage, which he, his employer and the U.S. government vociferously deny.
Donald Trump, needless to say, is fine with this, as indeed it’s something he would like to do himself:
Former president Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, has made no public statements on Russia’s detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been held for one year without formal charges or a trial.
Asked directly to clarify Trump’s position on Friday, his campaign did not respond to requests for comment. Trump has consistently gone out of his way to avoid criticizing Russian president Vladimir Putin, and Trump himself routinely demonizes reporters with terms such as “the enemy” and “criminals.”
His silence stands out among bipartisan condemnation of the detention and calls for Gershkovich’s release. The Journal’s editorial board, whose page Trump is known to read, noted the exception on Tuesday, pointedly asking, “Why the silence, sir?” The Journal commemorated the anniversary of Gershkovich’s arrest Friday by leaving a blank space on the newspaper’s front page.
He is, on the other hand, three and a half years younger than Biden.
I think about @evangershkovich every day, but today I can't stop. A year. An abomination. Unbearable.
We've had a setting for him at each of our holiday tables this year, a full cycle. I was hoping by now I would have given him the placecards I've collected. #IStandWithEvan— Taffy Brodesser-Akner (@taffyakner) March 29, 2024