Evan never stopped being a journalist… when he was told to write to Putin asking for clemency, he asked for an interview

WITH jet engines still humming behind him, journalist Evan Gershkovich lifted mother Ella into the air in a moving reunion that marked the end of 491 days held in Russian captivity.

Moments earlier, he had whispered “thank you” into US President Joe Biden’s ear after landing on home soil following a surprising behind-the-scenes game of political politics. chess.

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Detained in Russia on trumped-up charges, Evan finally left his 9-by-12-foot cell, where he spent 23 hours a day in solitary confinement, on Thursday morning.

The 32-year-old was flown on a Soviet plane to an airport in Ankara, Turkey, where, looking perplexed, he was escorted across the tarmac and put on a flight to Germany, then to America, where he was finally able to embrace his future family.

The Wall Street Journal reporter was freed in a surprising East-West exchange of 24 people, following a highly secretive operation that involved seven nations.

The historic exchange saw Evan and 16 others traded for eight Russian prisoners, in the largest exchange of its kind since the Cold War era.

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was supposed to be part of this week’s historic deal but died in Russian custody in February – allegedly murdered on Putin’s orders.

Evan’s release, with other US prisoners, former Marine Paul Whelan and radio journalist Alsu Kurmasheva came after spies and diplomats who crossed countries to close the deal.

‘Fake trial’

It’s a story worthy of a James Bond film, but at its core, Evan’s release is a story of a mother’s relentless love and determination.

Ella Milman fought tirelessly to free her son, organizing the media campaignsworking with diplomats and personally lobbying Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who sparked controversy with the release of a high-profile killer in the deal.

Ahead of the long-awaited reunion, the family said: “We have waited 491 days for Evan’s release and it is difficult to describe what it is like today.

“We can’t wait to give you the biggest hug and see your sweet, brave smile up close.”

Evan’s release is being praised around the world at a time when tensions between Russia and the West are at their highest following the invasion of Ukraine.

Price of freedom

But his freedom came at a cost, as President Putin’s henchman, assassin Vadim Krasikov, who shot dead a former Russian rebel in broad daylight in Berlin in 2019, was released from prison as part of the deal.

After the cold-blooded murder of Chechen-Georgian dissident Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, 40, witnesses saw Krasikov hastily change his clothes, shave his beard and get rid of a wig.

The judge in his case described the murder as “state terrorism” and said the order almost certainly came from Putin himself.

The deal also involved the release of Artem and Anna Dultsev, Spanish-speaking spies living in Slovenia, whose two children had been in an orphanage since their arrest in 2022, oblivious to the fact that they were Russian until they were met on a plane in Moscow by Putin. last night.

It’s rare for a reporter to become part of the story, but Evan’s extraordinary resilience and determination meant he never lost his desire for journalism.

When told to write a clemency plea to Putin before leaving his Russian prison cell, he asked the despot if he would agree to a deal. future interview.

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Evan’s ordeal began while working for the Wall Street Journal, a sister newspaper to The Sun, 1,500 miles from Moscow, in Yekaterinburg, where he reported on Russian repression.

He was at a steakhouse in March 2023 when he was grabbed by agents from the FSB, the Russian secret service, who accused him of spying for the CIA.

He ended up in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo prison.

When not in the cell, Evan was taken to an empty interrogation room – where two portraits of Putin hung on the walls – and interrogated by FSB chief investigator Alexei Khizhnyak. Sessions would last for hours

However, as is typical of great journalists, Evan found a way to connect with his interrogator, learning that they shared a passion for football and literature.

Khizhnyak was a Liverpool fan, while Evan supported rivals Arsenal, whose fans “delighted” him by erecting banners in support.

The unlikely duo also discussed books like Lion Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Vasily Grossman’s Life and Fate.

But nothing could stop Putin from carrying out his revenge against the West by arresting Evan.

Last month, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage, on false charges that led to him being accused of being caught “red-handed” with official documents.

The world condemned the false trial.

Journalists from around the world rallied in solidarity with Evan, including News Colleagues Corp at The Sun.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said his arrest demonstrated Russia’s “complete disregard for media freedom”.

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Difficult negotiations

The top-secret attempt to free him was complex and depended on a joint effort by politicians from Europe and America.

When Ella, a Soviet Jewish exile, was called to the White House last week to be told that her son would be freed, she was told to remain quiet for fear that a leak could jeopardize the deal.

From her home in Philadelphia, she built a network of vital contacts and met regularly with the Wall Street Journal’s legal and executive team to strategize.

We stood next to him and immediately Evan was talking and joking.

Evan’s mother, Ella

She recruited a justice department official after sitting next to him on a train and wrote coded letters to Evan.

She was so impressive that the Journal’s general counsel nicknamed her “Ella the Reporter.”

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Silicon Valley billionaires, Russian oligarchs and celebrities were also working to bring Evan home.

Ella, who left Russia in 1979 and whose Jewish mother treated Holocaust survivors in Berlin after World War II, met with the United States special envoy for hostage affairs, former Green Beret Lt. Col. Roger Cartsens, shortly after Evan was arrested.

‘Refused to give up’

Carstens, in turn, met with Chisto Grozev, a Bulgarian journalist whose work exposing Russia has been so dangerous that he is guarded by Austria’s elite Cobra forces when he returns to Vienna to see his family.

According to the WSJ, Grozev used a napkin to write a two-column list of Russian prisoners the US could exchange for Evan and Paul Whelan, the former US Marine accused of espionage in 2018.

But that would require the release of Putin’s assassin Krasikov.

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Around the same time, former Google chief Eric Schmidt told President Joe Biden that the German government was considering the possibility of releasing Krasikov in exchange for famous dissident Alexei Navalny.

Then, last June, Ella traveled to Moscow with Evan’s father, Mikhail, for his son’s appeal hearing, ignoring FBI warnings that they could be arrested.

She said: “We stood next to him and straight away Evan was talking and joking.

“We were laughing. Russians don’t expect laughter court. Crying, that’s what they expect.”

Shortly before their flight back to America, the couple were informed that their Russian visas were being revoked and an immigration officer told them, “Go (back) to New York.”

That same month, Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, editor of Radio Free Europe, was arrested.

Undeterred, in September Ella went to a Wall Street Journal gala dinner hosted by a Manhattan think tank, where she cornered German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and begged him to help.

We were laughing. Russians don’t expect laughter in court. Crying, that’s what they hope

Evan’s mother, Ella

Finally the wheels of freedom began to move after an extraordinary and unexpected interview between Putin and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in February of this year.

Carlson told the president’s aides he would ask about Evan — and Putin made it clear he wanted his killer returned, purring that the exchange would only occur for “a person serving time in a country allied with the US.”

Now America knew what it would take to free Navalny, Evan, Whelan and other prisoners serving time in hellish Russian prisons.

But a week later, the campaign suffered a severe blow when Navalny was found dead in his cell.

He had already survived several assassination attempts.

Still, Ella refused to give up. In May, the German Federal Intelligence Service began its own talks with Russia in exchange for the release of as many of its own citizens as possible.

Two days after Ella personally asked Biden at a White House event to pressure the German leader to act, he sent a letter to Scholz making a formal request to include Evan in any negotiations.

Over the past two months, American intelligence officials have met with Russians in Middle Eastern capitals to help secure the historic agreement, while German officials have also held clandestine meetings.

CIA Director William Burns then flew to Ankara, Turkey, to sort out logistics.

Upon landing at Joint Base Andrews Airport in Maryland, Evan hugged presidential candidate Kamala Harris before hugging Joe Biden and, finally, his family.

Telling waiting reporters that he “felt fine,” he also spoke of his concerns for other political prisoners languishing in Russian prisons.

He said: “I spent a month in prison in Yekaterinburg, where everyone I sat with was a political prisoner. Nobody knows them publicly, they have different political convictions. . . I would like to talk to people about this.”

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