a Russian court has sentenced Wall Street Journal reporter Evan gershkovich to 16 years in prison on Espionage charges allegations that he The Wall Street Journal and the US government have all repeatedly denied the American citizen and New Jersey native was arrested last March while on a reporting assignment and has now been detained for nearly 16 months the verdict comes after just three days of hearings held in secret and was seen as a foregone conclusion in a trial that the US has condemned as a sham President Biden in a statement said the US is quote pushing hard for evans's release and they will continue to do so gershkovich is the first American journalist to be detained in Russia on spying allegations since the Cold War Anton Troianovski, is the New York Times Moscow bureau chief he has been following this case closely and he joins me now from Berlin what's your reaction to the news today that Evan has been sentenced to 16 years in a Russian prison you know it's both not unexpected and yet still totally awful um we knew this was going to happen basically um the Russian court system is not independent this was not a due process trial um such cases in Russia pretty much always end in a conviction and we knew that Evan was facing up to 20 years in prison um at the same time just the the fact that someone that anyone anywhere could get a 16-year prison term just for doing their job as a journalist you know I think it just totally boggles your mind so really it's a reminder of how just awful a situation this is you know well I think you really just pointed out the most scariest part of this is that trial was held behind closed doors you know Evan has been largely cut off from his family from his friends from anyone really he knows so what do you know about how he's doing and what his mental state has been look he has stayed so strong throughout this ordeal uh he you know you can see him uh smiling in the courtroom uh when when the cameras uh come out every few months uh or so um a lot of people in myself included have been able to exchange letters with him in prison and we've seen how he's maintained gained his strength of spirit and his Good Humor um so yeah so he's I think he's stayed strong he clearly still has hope as as do all of us uh friends and colleagues of him that uh this will end at some point and and hopefully sooner rather than later well let's focus on Hope because earlier this week the Russian foreign minister said that the two countries are holding talks about a possible prisoner swap invol Ving Evan and that that this verdict could move that forward you know what are current negotiations looking like to bring him home and does the US have anyone that Russia wants to exchange for Evan so there's almost nothing we really know about them because they're happening completely in secret these negotiations but yes the Russians have said that negotiations are happening uh us officials over the last few months have also said that they are working on it but you're absolutely right one of the problems seems to be that there are no obvious candidates for a potential prisoner exchange uh in terms of Russians imprisoned in the United States and uh When Vladimir Putin um was interviewed by Tucker Carlson back in February in Moscow Putin actually pointed to a um convicted Russian assassin in prison in Germany as someone he would want so uh but there you know it's obviously also up to the Germans um and and it's a very complicated process clearly that we know very little about well what else could come next in this case is there any chance of appeal um you know so there could be an appeal uh but really as you say I think the thing to watch is what it is there any movement on the Diplomatic front um it could certainly still it could certainly still take a long time but um it's true that Russian officials have said uh throughout this process that they would only do a trade once Evan was convicted and um uh we've seen this process move remarkably quickly so um a lot of times cases like this take months and the second Hearing in Evans uh trial was originally supposed to take place in August and um earlier this week they they rapidly pushed it forward and um had a hearing uh yesterday and then had another one today uh where they already did the conviction and the sentencing so um it's moved very quickly unusually quickly by Russian standards and uh we'll have to see what's next well obviously as a journalist myself this you know hits close to home and I I do hope that Evan remains safe and strong Anton thank you for your time today thank you so much [Music]