The U.S. Embassy in Moscow has called for the release of Alsu Kurmasheva, a veteran RFE/RL journalist who holds dual U.S.-Russian citizenship, after she was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison by a Russian court on charges she, her employer, the U.S. government, and her supporters reject as politically motivated.
Responding a day after news of Kurmasheva’s sentencing broke, the embassy said it was “a sad day for journalism in Russia.”
“We once again call on the Russian authorities to release Alsu and other imprisoned journalists and prisoners of conscience,” the embassy said in a post on social media on July 23.
“The suppression of dissenting voices harms all Russians. A free and independent press is at the heart of democracy, enabling voters to make informed decisions and holding public officials accountable,” it added.
The court convicted Kurmasheva on a charge of spreading falsehoods about the Russian military.
RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus called the trial and conviction — first reported by AP — “a mockery of justice,” adding that “the only just outcome is for Alsu to be immediately released from prison by her Russian captors.”
“It’s beyond time for this American citizen, our dear colleague, to be reunited with her loving family,” Capus said in a statement.
Kurmasheva, a 47-year-old mother of two, was arrested in Kazan in October and first charged with failing to register as a “foreign agent” under a punitive Russian law that targets journalists, civil society activists, and others. She was subsequently charged with spreading falsehoods about the Russian military.
RFE/RL and the U.S. government say the charges are reprisals for her work as a journalist for the broadcaster in Prague.
“She’s a dedicated journalist who is being targeted by Russian authorities for her uncompromising commitment to speaking the truth and her principled reporting,” U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on July 22 after the news of her conviction.
“Journalism is not a crime, as you have heard us say on a number of occasions, and we continue to make very clear that she should be released,” he said.
The Kremlin has not commented on the conviction. In the past, it has said it is not closely following the case and that it wouldn’t comment as Russia’s justice system must be allowed to work through the case.
The verdict came on July 19, the same day that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was found guilty of espionage charges — which he, his employer, and the U.S. government have rejected as politically motivated — by a court in the city of Yekaterinberg.
A White House statement on July 19 said Gershkovich was targeted by the Russian government because he is a journalist and an American.
Unlike Gershkovich and another American, Paul Whelan, who is serving a 16-year sentence also on espionage charges, Kurmasheva has not been designated by the U.S. government as “wrongfully detained.”
Such a designation ensures that the case is assigned to the office of the special envoy for hostage affairs in the U.S. State Department, raising the political profile of the prisoner’s situation and allowing the U.S. administration to allocate more resources to securing their release.
The U.S. National Press Club — a professional association of American journalists — and 18 other media freedom groups called on President Joe Biden in an open letter on May 31 to press for the recognition of Kurmasheva as a “wrongfully detained” person.
“She meets all the criteria. This should happen immediately. It should have happened months ago,” the letter said.
“We have listened to the State Department twist itself into a pretzel explaining how there are other factors to be considered besides the criteria, but we have yet to hear a clear reason why [it] cannot declare her wrongfully detained,” it added.
Miller did not address the issue of Kurmasheva’s designation with reporters, saying only that the Biden administration remains focused on her case.
Russia has been accused of targeting American citizens by detaining them on trumped-up charges to later use as bargaining chips in talks to bring back Russians convicted of crimes abroad.
Some analysts have said the move to expedite the cases of Kurmasheva and Gershkovich could be a sign that talks are heating up between Moscow and Washington on a possible prisoner exchange. There has been no word on such talks from either Washington or Moscow.
Kurmasheva is one of four RFE/RL journalists — the other three are Andrey Kuznechyk, Ihar Losik, and Vladyslav Yesypenko — currently imprisoned on charges related to their work. Rights groups and RFE/RL have called repeatedly for the release of all four, saying they have been wrongly detained.
Losik is a blogger and contributor for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service who was convicted in December 2021 on several charges including the “organization and preparation of actions that grossly violate public order” and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Kuznechyk, a web editor for RFE/RL’s Belarus Service, was sentenced in June 2022 to six years in prison following a trial that lasted no more than a few hours. He was convicted of “creating or participating in an extremist organization.”
Yesypenko, a dual Ukrainian-Russian citizen who contributed to Crimea.Realities, a regional news outlet of RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, was sentenced in February 2022 to six years in prison by a Russian judge in occupied Crimea after a closed-door trial. He was convicted of “possession and transport of explosives,” a charge he steadfastly denies.