总统乔·拜登美国最高议员和政府官员谴责俄罗斯非法拘留记者埃文·格什科维奇，并重申他们将把他带回家的承诺。
《华尔街日报》记者格什科维奇因间谍罪已在莫斯科的勒福托沃监狱服刑一年。他的报纸和美国政府指责间谍罪不实。本周早些时候，他审前拘留延长了再过三个月。
格什科维奇的家庭接受美国广播公司采访表示乐观，并说他们知道美国政府正在认真对待他的案件。
拜登总统周五在一份声明中重申了这一立场，他在声明中向所有海外美国人强调:“我们与你们在一起。我们永远不会停止努力带你回家。”
“正如我告诉埃文的父母的那样，我也永远不会放弃希望。我们将继续每天努力确保他的释放，”拜登说。“我们将继续谴责俄罗斯利用美国人作为谈判筹码的骇人听闻的企图，并要求为此付出代价。我们将继续坚定地反对所有试图攻击新闻界或以记者为目标的人——自由社会的支柱。”
美国国务卿安东尼布林肯在周五的一份声明中同样强调“新闻不是犯罪”，他批评俄罗斯追捕批评者。
“到目前为止，俄罗斯没有提供任何不当行为的证据，原因很简单:埃文没有做错任何事情，”布林肯说，并补充说，“自埃文被非法拘留以来的一年里，俄罗斯本已受到限制的媒体环境变得更加暴虐，对任何形式的异议的独立声音都进行了持续打击。”
布林肯和拜登还呼吁释放保罗·惠兰(Paul Whelan)。惠兰是一名商人和前美国海军陆战队队员，2020年被判犯有间谍罪，判处16年监禁。与格什科维奇一样，美国政府认为惠兰被俄罗斯政府不公正地拘留。
布林肯说:“俄国应该停止出于政治目的任意拘留个人的做法，应该立即释放埃文和保罗。”。
在一份罕见的联合声明中，众议院议长·迈克·约翰逊、参议院多数党领袖查克·舒默、参议院少数党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔和众议院少数党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯表示，他们继续谴责格什科维奇“毫无根据的逮捕、捏造的指控和不公正的监禁”
他们说:“45年前，埃文的父母埃拉和米哈伊尔·格什科维奇逃离苏联后在美国避难。“如今，普京正在通过对内镇压和对外侵略恢复苏联式的控制。“
去年12月，美国国务院发言人马修·米勒表示，俄罗斯拒绝了一项旨在确保格什科维奇和惠兰获释的“新的重大提议”。
俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京在接受前福克斯新闻频道主播塔克·卡尔森采访时表示，暗示他可以接受囚犯交换涉及到格什科维奇。
美国国会领导人周五表示:“我们再次呼吁俄罗斯政府立即释放埃文、保罗·惠兰和其他被错误拘留的人。”
Biden, top lawmakers denounce Russia's yearlong detention of Evan Gershkovich
PresidentJoe Biden, top lawmakers and administration officials are condemning Russia's wrongful detention of journalist Evan Gershkovich and reiterating their commitment to bringing him home.
Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, has now spent one year in Moscow's Lefortovo Prison on espionage charges his newspaper and the U.S. government have denounced as false. Earlier this week, hispre-trial detention was extendedfor another three months.
Gershkovich's family, in aninterview with ABC News, expressed optimism and said they know the U.S. government is taking his case seriously.
President Biden reiterated that position in a statement Friday, in which he emphasized to all Americans abroad: "We are with you. And we will never stop working to bring you home."
"As I have told Evan's parents, I will never give up hope either. We will continue working every day to secure his release," Biden said. "We will continue to denounce and impose costs for Russia's appalling attempts to use Americans as bargaining chips. And we will continue to stand strong against all those who seek to attack the press or target journalists -- the pillars of free society."
Secretary of State Antony Blinken similarly stressed in a statement Friday that "journalism is not a crime" as he criticized Russia for going after its critics.
"To date, Russia has provided no evidence of wrongdoing for a simple reason: Evan did nothing wrong," Blinken said, adding, "In the year since Evan's wrongful detention, Russia's already restrictive media landscape has become more oppressive, with a continued assault against independent voices targeting any form of dissent."
Blinken and Biden also called for the release of Paul Whelan, a businessman and former U.S. Marine who was convicted of espionage in 2020 and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Like Gershkovich, the U.S. government considers Whelan unjustly detained by the Russian government.
"Russia should end its practice of arbitrarily detaining individuals for political leverage and should immediately release Evan and Paul," Blinken said.
In a rare joint statement, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said they continue to condemn Gershkovich's "baseless arrest, fabricated charges, and unjust imprisonment."
"Forty-five years ago, Evan's parents, Ella and Mikhail Gershkovich, found refuge in the United States after fleeing the Soviet Union," they said. "Today, Putin is restoring Soviet-style control through repression at home and aggression abroad."
In December, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Russia rejected a "new and significant proposal" to secure the release of Gershkovich and Whelan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, during an interview with former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson,suggested he could be open to a prisoner swapinvolving Gershkovich.
"We repeat our call for the Russian government to release Evan, Paul Whelan, and others it has wrongfully detained without further delay," the U.S. congressional leaders said Friday.
