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[title whooshes] [upbeat music] From NJ PBS Studios, This is NJ Spotlight News with Brianna Vannozzi.

- Good evening and thanks for joining us for a special edition of NJ Spotlight News.

I'm Brianna Vannozzi.

Tonight we're marking a grim anniversary, March 29th, one year since Princeton native and "Wall Street Journal" reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested while on assignment in Russia and accused of being a spy, a charge he, the "Journal," and the US government vehemently deny.

Gershkovich is the first American journalist to be detained by Russian authority since the Cold War.

The 32-year-old was accredited by Russia's foreign ministry to work as a reporter for the "Journal's" Moscow Bureau at the time he was taken into custody.

The US Department of State immediately declaring it a wrongful detention, demanding his release.

In the 365 days since, Evan's been held at the infamous Lefortovo, a Stalin era prison in Moscow, and pretrial detention has been extended several times.

The most recent extension handed down just this week until at least June 30th.

If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in a Russian prison.

To mark this one year since his arrest, we take a deeper look, starting with Senior Correspondent Brenda Flanagan, who sat down with fellow journalists to reflect on Evan's mission in Moscow and the swell of global determination to free Evan.

- [Brenda Flanagan] The striking display for Evan Gershkovich, a collage of front pages from "The Wall Street Journal" tells you he's still a presence in their newsroom.

Each page represents one day since Russian security agents arrested the "Journal's" Moscow reporter on trumped-up espionage charges and jailed him in a notorious Stalin era prison.

On March 29th, colleagues will post the 365th page here, marking one year.

- It's a sharp reminder of this is almost a physical manifestation of what one year without Evan is.

It's a grim milestone that no one wants to reach.

- [Brenda Flanagan] Reporter Caitlin Ostroff is a friend who covers financial tech in a newsroom where images of Evan pop up everywhere.

She met him at the "Journal's" London Bureau and says news of his arrest, seeing Evan standing captive behind glass in a Russian courtroom hit her physically.

- It's all of the air kind of leaves her body.

And it's not that you never think something like that can happen, it's just, it's the worst fear that you could have ever imagined coming true.

- Everyone understood the stakes, and he wasn't casual about it, not at all.

- [Brenda Flanagan] Joshua Yaffa wrote from Moscow for "The New Yorker," and says Evan, the American-born son of Russian emigres who moved to the US, not only spoke the language like a native, he also felt driven to report on the people.

He liked Moscow, played soccer with folks there, and even as Vladimir Putin tightened his grip, launching the invasion of Ukraine, Evan stayed filing news stories on everything.

- Russia's war in Ukraine and how that was changing Russian politics, society, economy, kind of everything in Russia.

Still, everything kind of happens in the shadow of the war.

[rifles booming] - He loves Russia, he loves the people.

He wanted to be there and tell those stories, and he was incredible at it.

- He was doing journalism in Russia in a time when it was the most closed off to the world than at any point since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

- [Brenda Flanagan] Anton Troianovski, Moscow bureau chief for "The New York Times," like all of Evan's colleagues, he can't pinpoint why Russia picked Evan to arrest, - The spokesman for the Kremlin and for Vladimir Putin comes out and says that Evan was caught red-handed.

This was clearly done with the express approval of the Kremlin, of Putin.

- [Brenda Flanagan] In a February interview with Tucker Carlson, Putin frankly indicated he's open to swapping prisoners.

In 2022, Russia released American basketball star Brittany Griner in exchange for a jailed Russian arms dealer called "The Merchant of Death."

- I feel like the veil has dropped on the side of the Russian state, and Putin personally, and he's made the the game clear.

This is a hostage situation with Evan to be traded for someone Russia wants.

- [Brenda] Backdoor diplomatic negotiations continue.

House speaker Mike Johnson invited Evan's parents to the State of the Union address.

President Biden's on the record in support of bringing Evan home.

- Oh, I'm serious about prisoner exchange.

I'm serious about doing all we can to free Americans being illegally held in Russia or anywhere else for that matter.

And that process is underway.

- This public show of solidarity serves to keep Evan's case out front, but it's also a reminder for journalists there but for the grace of God.

That's a thought that haunts Evan's colleagues.

- It could have been any of us.

It happened to be Evan, and I feel a great burden and duty to him for that reason, that he has spent a year in Russian prison for doing the work we all do.

- [Brenda Flanagan] And so his colleagues lobby fiercely for Evan's release.

He's appeared in Russian court several times, but no trial date's been set, and Russia generally won't agree to prisoner exchanges until it gets a criminal conviction.

- And I have to say that he's been looking extremely strong, and I know that he does have the strength to get through this incredibly, unimaginably, awful ordeal.

- He's a great friend, he's a great colleague, he's an incredible journalist, and he is one of the best people you'll ever meet.

That's why I want my friend home, you know, and we're gonna keep pushing until that happens.

- [Brenda Flanagan] Caitlin Ostroff says when he comes back, they'll gather up all these front pages so Evan can catch up on the news he missed, and they'll catch up with a friend they've missed.

I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.

- As we head into the second year of Evan's detainment, the potential for his release is met with a mix of hope and frustration.

As Brenda reported, Russian President Vladimir Putin implied during a recent interview, he may be open to a potential prisoner swap but declined to give a timeframe, even as US officials say they're continuously working to secure his freedom.

One man who spent four years dealing with the Russian president is Michael McFaul, who served as the US Ambassador to Russia under the Obama Administration, and he joins me now.

[upbeat music] Ambassador McFaul, thank you for joining me.

Based off of your experience, what can you tell us about what's happening behind closed doors in the negotiations to free Evan?

- I most certainly have heard periodically from people in the Biden administration about negotiations, about potential swaps.

There was negotiations over Mr. Alexei Navalny before he was murdered, allegedly.

Also talking about swaps with Germans.

And at one point, from what I've been told, that included Americans as well, and then I was told that it didn't include Americans, which is all to say that I don't know the details.

I do know that this is a top priority for the Biden administration, and they continue to look for ways to free Evan.

- After Navalny's death, I was curious, as I think many of us were, how that might factor in into future negotiations.

I, like you, followed reports in "New York Times," "Wall Street Journal," elsewhere, that there were possibly two Americans, maybe Gershkovich and Paul Whelan, who's also been detained.

How does that factor in here, and could that possibly be a setback?

- And I just don't know because we're asking me questions, and the whole world is, to get into Putin's mind, and it's impossible to know how he thinks about these things.

In some ways, I see this potentially tragically, obviously, the murder of Alexei Navalny, he was a colleague, a friend of mine, but maybe that might just give some impetus for the Russian officials, for Putin himself to think, "Do we really want to have other people die in jail like Alexei Navalny did?

I don't see how in any way, shape, or form it would be in Putin's personal interest, let alone Russia's national interest for that to happen to Americans like Evan.

So maybe that gives just some slight more impetus to take negotiations about a swap more seriously.

- Well, and that's interesting that you say that ambassador, because Putin is coming off of an election, a rubber stamped election, and is really tightening his grip on the country.

What impetus, if any, does he have to negotiate with foreign leaders like Biden, like others in the West, in Germany, when he is now the longest serving leader in Russia since Stalin?

- Well, generally speaking, he's not in a negotiating state of mind.

That is absolutely correct.

And when it comes to Ukraine, for instance, I see no evidence whatsoever that he is willing to begin serious negotiations about ending his barbaric invasion of Ukraine.

That said, Putin has this peculiar loyalty streak to thank people that he thinks are patriots, and in particular, the killer, the assassin in Germany, Mr. Krasikov, that was allegedly, I wanna point out, I'm just reporting what others have written, but allegedly he was the person Putin was willing to trade Navalny for, because he has said, stated publicly that this assassin, who went to Germany and killed, you know, a Chechen in exile.

He has stated on the record that he thinks that he did a patriotic duty to do that.

So in that sense, maybe that opens up a window and some kind of complicated trade.

Maybe there are others held in American prisons but that would be the only way.

But I wanna be clear, I'm drawing on straws here, right?

I'm pulling on threads of hope.

Realistically, we should not overestimate Putin's interest in negotiating for anything.

He's very comfortable being the villain that he is.

And you know, while others on the outside might just see this cruel and inhumane, I most certainly do, with respect to all Americans being held unjustly, including Paul Whelan, Evan, and Marc Fogle too, I don't think Putin thinks of it that way.

And so I just think we need to be sober about who we're dealing with here in Vladimir Putin, - You essentially answered what I think all of us are wondering, which is, should we be prepared for this to be a very protracted, long haul as we have seen with other cases?

- Well, of course, I hope there's a way out of this.

I hope there is a deal done.

And I know some people criticize swaps, I don't.

I think it's worth the trade, and especially given the circumstances for Evan, this is incredibly wrongful and an unjust, wrongful imprisonment.

I think it's worth the trade, and there's no, this notion that somehow it encourages future arrests, there's no evidence to support that.

And to that, I would just say, Americans should get out of Russia.

Nobody should be in Russia today.

But I fear it will be a long drawn out process because I just don't think Mr. Putin is in a mood to please anybody in the United States of America right now.

That is the tragic reality today.

- Former Ambassador Michael McFaul, thank you so very much for your insight.

- Thanks for having me.

- Before landing his reporting job in Russia, Evan spent much of his childhood in Princeton.

His parents immigrated from the Soviet Union in the late 70s, then settled in the central Jersey suburb, where Evan would discover his love for writing and become captain of his high school soccer team.

But the Gershkovich's never forgot their roots, keeping their native Russian as their primary language at home, which gave Evan early aspirations to visit his parents' homeland and explain the country and culture to an English-speaking audience.

Ted Goldberg reports.

[upbeat music] - [Ted] Before Evan Gershkovich made international headlines, he was a Princeton kid, - Very, very curious from early age.

- He had questions about everything.

So he just has this need to, desire to learn deeper.

- Always really at his best when the pressure was greatest.

- I would challenge you today to find somebody to say something bad about him.

- [Ted] Rashone Johnson can't.

He was Evan's phys ed teacher at Princeton High School, and is now the assistant principal.

- Even back then, he wasn't in the assistant principal's office.

- [Ted] He remembers Evan as a selfless standout on the school soccer team.

- He was a guy that was down for the cause with his team.

He would put his body and everything on the line.

- It didn't take long to figure out how special he was.

- [Ted] Wayne Sutcliffe coached Evan for all four of his seasons on varsity.

- We got to know him very, very well.

Over four years, we spent hundreds and hundreds of hours with him.

- [Ted] During that time, Evan made a lasting impression on the pitch.

- Very calm player on the ball, very committed, very high soccer IQ.

- [Ted] When you look around the team room, Evan makes several appearances in pictures.

His teams won three straight county titles and a state championship.

You can see his self-deprecating sense of humor in this signature where he sarcastically calls himself a track star.

- [Coach Sutcliffe] He wasn't the fastest guy, but he didn't need to be.

- [Ted] Coach Sutcliffe says there were other attributes to Evan sure to help him in his journalism career.

- His ability to see things was better than most.

He was kind of like still the hardest working guy on the team, as if in every training session he was trying to make the team.

You could really rely on him.

- A lot of times we do athletics, it like, it doesn't just give you character, it reveals the character that you are.

So like that person that like Evan was on the soccer field with his teammates, like that's who he is.

- [Ted] This year's team honored Evan in multiple ways.

"The Wall Street Journal" provided these "I stand with Evan" shirts for the team to wear during some pre-game warmups and his undershirts.

And this "Free Evan" banner was on display for each game.

Players also sent Evan handwritten letters.

- I want him to know that like we're thinking of him, and he's like a legend here at PHS.

- [Ted] Nick Matese, like Evan before him, was a senior captain this past season.

- We had like a bigger cause this year, like we know like talking in the team room, like before we were in the first practice, like all of us were seniors, we wanted to like make a stand.

- [Ted] The Little Tigers also honored Evan with inspired play and another state title, their first outright championship since Evan played here.

- It touches your heart.

It's something that you wish you could do something about every day.

And it's emotional.

I have to say, it's emotional.

You know, he was a very special player here.

- [Ted] When Evan wasn't playing sports in high school, he was writing about them for "The Tower," the student paper at PHS.

A decade later, "The Tower" was writing about him.

- It was basically like national news at the time.

And like Biden had talked about it, and I was like, "It's really interesting that he has this connection to our school."

- [Ted] Princeton senior Jessica Chen was the editor in chief last year when "The Tower" wrote two pieces about Evan's detainment in Russia.

- When we like see things online or like in the news, sometimes you're kind of like removed from it.

Then like talking to an actual person makes it seem really real.

- [Ted] She credits these stories for helping to spread the word about Evan's story.

- [Jessica] I'm pretty sure when our first piece came out, like not that many people in the school were like actually aware of him like being detained in Russia - [Ted] As Evan's case drags on, people in his hometown hope for the best.

- The paper like cares about like the alumni that like wrote for it, and we like care about his story.

- And I'm just hoping that I can talk to him sooner than later, just like all of us.

- [Ted] Evan's childhood home no longer stands, and his family no longer lives here, but his mark on Princeton isn't disappearing anytime soon.

In Princeton, I'm Ted Goldberg, NJ Spotlight News.

- Evan's detainment has galvanized journalists and leaders across the globe in a united call for his release.

But at the heart of the effort to free Evan are some of his closest friends who refuse to give up hope.

Joining me are his childhood and college friends, Michael Van Itallie and Jeremy Berke.

Michael and Jeremy, I'm so honored to get a chance to talk to you both.

I know communication has been limited with Evan, but have you been able to share letters?

And what can you tell me about how he's holding up, Jeremy?

- Yeah, so we have been able to write to him, and we get letters back from him.

The process is a little bit stilted.

The letters are translated into Russian.

They're read by the FSB and the prison readers before they get to Evan.

And he can write back to us.

He handwrites letters in Russian, they're translated by a group of friends.

These are foreign correspondents in in Moscow and in Europe who speak both languages.

And they get back to us.

And so, look, we're talking to him, we know his spirits are remarkably okay almost a year into the process.

But it is a bizarre situation almost being a pen pal with your friend in 2024.

And you know, because of the dual translation, sometimes things get a little bit lost, but there's enough in there to know that we're talking to him, and we're very thankful for that.

- That's a tough game of telephone to play.

And Michael, one I'm sure you never imagined having to do when you met Evan, which correct me if I'm wrong, was on a soccer field in Princeton when you guys were kids.

- Yeah, that's right.

We were eight years old.

His dad was our coach, and he named the team after his favorite Russian Premier League team, which is Spartak Moscow.

So we were Spartak.

And yeah, I mean, Evan was the same then as he's been my whole life since I've known him.

- He sounds like a really brave guy.

And from what I can tell from how his family is holding up, they seem incredibly courageous.

Have you been in contact with them?

- Yeah, we have.

And I would completely second that characterization.

They've been incredibly strong, really risen to the occasion, and have been amazing advocates for him, his story, his release.

And I think part of that is the strength that Evan is exuding.

I think a lot of people have sort of noticed or commented on how he's sort of comforting his friends and family in his letters and his communications, even in, you know, when he appears at court and is cracking a smile and sort of projecting strength and poise.

- Jeremy, I mean, you and Evan met in college.

You're also a journalist.

Was he aware of the inherent dangers?

Because Russia has not been a friendly place for journalists for many years.

- I don't think Evan was naive to the risk that his reporting carried.

I do think that the level that it's gotten to was something that he never expected nor I ever expected.

You know, when we were living together in Brooklyn, we had a lot of long, late night conversations about his taking his first job in Russia at "The Moscow Times."

He felt like this was his calling.

He felt that Russia was retrenching from the western world and that someone who was both fluent in the language and fluent in American culture and Russian culture could be the person to help bridge that gap.

And so he went over there not as an adversarial person, but for love of Russian people, to try and understand who he was.

His parents immigrated from the former Soviet Union.

And so, look, I think this was a calling to him.

I think he was absolutely willing to accept some level of risk to do his job, and he did his job very well.

However, did he expect it to rise to this occasion?

Did we all expect it to rise to this occasion?

No.

And I think you kick yourself over some conversations you had when you were saying- - Like what?

- Well, you know, we talked about that it might be dangerous for him to go to Russia.

That reporting on the Kremlin could be risky at this time, especially with the objectivity and truthfulness that he wanted to report with.

So look, like we had a lot of conversations about that.

We would talk through Twitter DMs just about the riskiness of what he was doing.

I mean, he, early on in the Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he posted, you know, scenes from the front in Belarus.

Like he was breaking these big stories about troop movements.

And obviously, you worry about that.

Three months before he was captured, I'll say, he was in New York in October, and you know, we were just like sitting around at a friend's apartment, and he talked about how he would get tailed on some of his stories.

And you're thinking to yourself like, "That doesn't sound so good," you know, but I'm sure- - But you never imagined he'd be in this position or that you all would be sitting here talking about him?

- No, not at all.

And I think the worst we thought, would he get kicked out of the country and have a good story to tell about it?

Did I think he would be put first into solitary confinement into one of Russia's most notorious prisons?

Absolutely not.

This has risen to a level that's frankly unacceptable.

And I think, again, while he wasn't naive, he did not expect it.

- Can you share if he's told you throughout your correspondence what he is doing to pass the time?

I mean, he gets an hour, as I understand it, outside of his cell, but when you are in this prison, you never see the other inmates.

And you can speak to it better than I that he's a very outgoing person, someone who seems to thrive on being social.

Do you know what he's been doing to keep his spirits up?

- Yeah, so with the things we're happy to share, he does have a cellmate now, and so he can chat with someone.

Though the Lefortovo, you know, excuse the pronunciation, is a notoriously isolating prison, it's designed to isolate prisoners and to wear on their mental state, he at least has someone he can talk to.

His legal team is able to enter the prison at least every two weeks, and they talk for a long time.

The stories we hear is that they're laughing the whole time, which I think owes to Evan's spirit, that he's reassuring everyone else but himself.

He's working out.

You know, he has a book of body weight workouts, that he's doing pushups and things like that, and trying to stay fit.

And there's a TV with some Russian TV channels they watch, you know, some random, whatever is on daytime- - Whatever's on.

- Russian television.

- So keeping his mental and physical strength up.

- [Michael] Yeah.

- Michael, as we near, as we are at this one year mark, what do you want the world to know about Evan?

- Well, just that he is an incredible guy.

That he is brilliant.

He cared about the mission of being a journalist and sort of his unique ability to translate the Russian culture and experience of sort of everyday people to a Western audience.

And that's really what his reporting often focused on, was just sort of daily life.

We're missing him, but we're also missing out on the incredible work he would be doing on this story.

- Yeah, well said.

And he's still bringing all of you guys together, even from so far away.

Michael Van Itallie, Jeremy Berke, thank you so much.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- And that does it for us tonight.

Thanks for joining us for this special edition of NJ Spotlight News.

And don't forget to download the podcast of tonight's broadcast so you can listen anytime.

I'm Brianna Vannozzi for the entire NJ Spotlight News team.

Thanks for being with us.

Have a great holiday weekend.

We'll see you back here on Monday.

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