Wall Street Journal publisher discusses Russia’s charges against Evan Gershkovich

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• Amna Nawaz:

  His lawyer said today that Evan Gershkovich is in a mood to fight after his appearance in a Moscow courtroom, where he faced farcical espionage charges lodged by Russian authorities. The U.S. says The Wall Street Journal reporter is wrongfully detained and the president and his aides have made his release a priority.

  So have his colleagues, one of whom joins me now.

  Almar Latour is publisher of The Wall Street Journal and CEO of Dow Jones, which owns the paper.

  Almar, welcome. And thank you for joining us.

  Today was the first time Evan was seen in public since March 30. The Russian court upheld his detention, rejected Dow Jones' offer of $600,000 of bail for him to be put under house arrest. What is your reaction to what you saw in today's hearing?

• Almar Latour, CEO, Dow Jones:

  Well, it obviously very disturbing to see Evan in a glass cage just for doing his job, just for reporting.

  And it's disturbing for the family. It's disturbing for all of his colleagues. And I think it should be disturbing to people at home to see a reporter put in that situation merely for doing his job.

  And so we were expecting this outcome, but, nonetheless, we're disappointed. We have come to expect from autocracies, and Russia included, that there is disregard for free press. And that was on wide display today.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Have you been in touch with Evan indirectly or with his family since the hearing? I mean, how are they doing?

• Almar Latour:

  We have a very robust team in place that is very multifaceted, that is in touch with Evan indirectly. We have retained lawyers for Evan, who are working under difficult circumstances there.

  And our team is in touch with Evan's family. Obviously, for any family, this is devastating to see one's loved one treated like this.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Evan does stand accused of espionage. That conviction carries up to 20 years in prison. And virtually all espionage trials in Russia end in a conviction.

  Do you believe this is a legal fight that can be won? Or will Evan only be freed through diplomatic channels?

• Almar Latour:

  Well, our focus is on Evan's release. And that's our sole focus. And we're working around the clock to make sure that that happens.

  We're working closely with the administration, with the State Department and, as you mentioned, the White House on his release. And we will achieve that by any means possible, any means at our disposal. The legal process, we suspect, will play out. But we are focused on walking any channel really to make sure that Evan is released.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Based on what you know so far, is this a weeks-long or months-long or years-long effort ahead?

• Almar Latour:

  Well, obviously, we want this to end as quickly as possible. I think it's important, obviously, first and foremost, for Evan and for his family, for his colleagues, but also for a free press.

  The world is watching how the U.S. and Western democracies respond to this kind of affront to free press. And, therefore, it's even more important to get Evan out very quickly. The precedent, Amna, is that reporters accused of espionage — I think the last time it happened to a U.S. reporter was during the Cold War.

  But, obviously, autocracies have a bad track record in treating journalists in these cases. And so we're prepared to do what it takes for as long as it takes. But we have got our eye and our hopes on getting him home as quickly as possible.

• Amna Nawaz:

  As you well know, Russia has long not been a safe place for journalists. I think Evan's case solidifies that.

  He was, we should note, accredited with the Foreign Ministry to work there as a journalist. At this point, would you be advising other news organizations to pull their reporters?

• Almar Latour:

  Well, every news organization has to make their own judgment of that. As you know, we asked some of our staff to return and to — and we have extricated some from Russia.

  I think the bottom line, though, is that it's become significantly more difficult to report from Russia in any form. It's more dangerous, clearly, if an accredited reporter just doing his job can be picked up, put in a van, and a couple of weeks later, we see him in a glass cage for the world to see.

  So those are unsafe circumstances. And it's a loss for the free world. It's a loss for democracies. It's a loss for the audience and in the U.S. and policymakers. But it's also, I would argue, a tremendous loss for people in Russia to understand what is actually happening in their society.

  Evan really focused in his reporting on that. And there's a lot of disinformation and misinformation that goes into that society. So it's a it's a loss all around.

• Amna Nawaz:

  That is Almar Latour, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal and CEO of Dow Jones, joining us tonight.

  Almar, thank you so much for your time.

• Almar Latour:

  Thank you, Amna.