House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) issued a rare joint statement Thursday condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin and demanding the release of two American prisoners.
“We strongly condemn Russia’s ongoing and illegal detention of journalist Evan Gershkovich and call for his immediate release,” the two House leaders said in a statement. “Since arresting Evan five weeks ago, Russia has failed to provide any credible evidence to justify its manufactured charges.”
Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, was arrested by Russia’s Federal Security Service in late March and is the first U.S. journalist to be detained on spying charges since the Cold War. The U.S. State Department has designated Gershkovich as being wrongfully detained.
“Journalism is not a crime, and his detention is another deeply concerning attack on freedom of the press across the globe,” the lawmakers added.
Both GOP and Democratic House leaders also called for the release of Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who has been held in Russia since 2018 on espionage charges.
“The persecution of Gershkovich is part of a disturbing practice by Putin’s Russia of kidnapping American citizens and using Soviet-style show trials to unjustly imprison them,” the two lawmakers said in the statement. “Today, the Kremlin not only holds Gershkovich hostage, it continues to unjustly imprison Paul Whelan.”
The statement added, “Russia must release Gershkovich and Whelan now.”
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