demands are mounting for the release of the Wall Street Journal reporter and New Jersey native detained in Russia it's been one week since Evan Gershkovich who grew up in Princeton was taken into custody by Russia's Federal Security Bureau while reporting on a story for the outlet and accused of spying for the U.S government it's an allegation The Wall Street Journal vehemently denies now a Moscow Court says it's agreed to hear an appeal on April 18th from gershkovich's lawyers the court could uphold the detention move him to another jail or Grant bail it's the first time Russia has brought a spy case against a U.S reporter since the Cold War a sign of escalating tensions between Russia and the U.S amid the war in Ukraine President Biden has demanded his immediate release and earlier today more than 200 Russian journalists and activists signed an open letter calling for gershwitz to be made free his friends and family are actively doing their part I'm now joined by Jeremy Berke a close friend of Evans from college and former roommate Jeremy it's really great to get a chance to talk to you clearly Evan was drawn to Russia um not just from the sense of his family but he had a real desire to understand this other side of the country that so few of us know tell me about why someone would leave here in America where there are a lot of opportunities as a journalist to follow this real passion so first and foremost thank you for having me on and thank you for your time and attention to Evan's case Evan as a fluent Russian speaker he grew up the parent of Soviet Jewish emigries he felt a calling to go to Russia and to tell the story of Russian people he left the U.S he left New York in 2017 and at the time the Russian economy was changing there was a lot going on in the country and he felt like he could be the person to really bridge the gap between what western audiences needed to know and the stories that Russian people wanted told Evan fell in love with the country he loves Russia he loves Russian people and all he wanted to do was share that knowledge with the rest of the world yeah I mean that's evident in his work what kind of journalist was Evan what type of stories did he want to tell Beyond wanting to desperately hold on to this culture Evan was had a wide range of reporting skills he first left that left the U.S to report on Russia's economy he reported on business and finance as well um after that he dove into my sort of favorite aspect of his reporting the culture stories he really lived in Russia in Moscow as a muscovite he knew all the cool bars cafes restaurants DJs and everything and he reported about The Nightlife and the regular life of 20s you know people in their 20s and 30s in Russia as well after the war broke out everyone's reporting changed he actually was one of the first reporters to break the story that uh wounded Russian soldiers are being transported across the border to Belarus and Belarus was helping Russia with the war effort but perhaps my favorite story that Evan wrote uh was at the height of the war which is obviously still ongoing he traveled back to Moscow to report from those cafes restaurants bars and clubs that he loved to talk about what this war was like for regular Russian people and how things had changed or had not changed within the country and that was for me Illuminating reporting and it spoke exactly to what Evan's priorities are and the type of person that he is yeah well he obviously had a window into this life there that so few of us get an opportunity to see he was really about decoding sort of Russian life yeah I mean in all of the work of his that I've had the opportunity to read it seems like he had a real understanding of it absolutely and and you know as the child of Soviet immigrants he was very fluent in the language but not only that he was fluent in the culture and how things work in Russia so I think that gave him a really good landing pad to tell these stories in a way that were useful to Western audiences right people like myself who frankly had very little understanding about what Russia was like and he really humanized that element and I think his love of Russia and the Russian people really came across in his reporting and it made me almost fall in love with the country vicariously through him I wonder you know given the fact that he knows so well the inner workings of of Russia the government does that perhaps make him better prepared for what he is facing for what lies ahead for him he he was not naive to say the least um he knew exactly what he was doing he was used to being tailed by the FSB you know there's a lot of the Wall Street Journal had set up a lot of security considerations around his reporting trips uh however I I don't think this was expected um I think he thought he might be expelled from the country uh to be detained in a high-profile hostage situation I I don't I don't know there has been just an incredible marshaling of resources to try and help him and try and help the situation but given the complexity of it and given you know that there are only so few people in the world who can actually impact this situation we're doing what we can to just keep his name out there and keep pressure on the situation to ensure his safe return home yeah um we're thinking of all of you right now of course Evan uh Jeremy Berke thank you so much thank you again for your time [Music]