ACURA Announcement: Statement on the Arrest and Detainment of American Journalists in Russia

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American Committee for US-Russia Accord (ACURA), 10/23/23

In April, The American Committee for US-Russia Accord (ACURA) released a statement condemning the arrest and detainment of the American journalist Evan Gershkovich by Russian authorities on espionage charges.

Sadly, 6 months later, we are compelled to protest yet another arrest and detainment of an American journalist, Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Upon her arrest, RFE/RL president Jeffrey Gedmin released a statement saying Ms. Kurmasheva, “Needs to be released so she can return to her family immediately.”

We agree.

The arrests of Mr. Gershkovich and Ms. Kurmasheva are an affront to the values of free inquiry and will only increase the already dangerous level of tension between the United States and Russia.

We call for their unconditional release.

We further call for all parties to the war in Ukraine to engage in meaningful dialogue to put an end to this conflict which has cost the lives of so many.

—The Board of the American Committee for US-Russia Accord

6 thoughts on “ACURA Announcement: Statement on the Arrest and Detainment of American Journalists in Russia”

  1. She should have registered her dual citizenship as required by law for the last ten years, and also to have registered as a paid foreign agent of American-funded state propaganda broadcasting.

  2. What if they’re guilty of the things they’ve been charged with?

    The Russians say Mr. Gershkovich was caught snooping around a munitions factory in Yekaterinburg, asking questions he had no business asking. Given the state of relations between Russia and the U.S., it seems reasonable that he’d be charged with espionage.

    Ms. Kurmasheva was arrested for failing to register as a foreign agent (a designation originally devised by the U.S. in 1938, incidentally) and for trying to dig up information about the Russian military. As an editor for Radio Free Europe, she’s employed by a propaganda agency with a long record of hostility to Russia. Again, given the current realities, her arrest and detention seem equally reasonable.

    Are the Russians lying, and merely collecting “bargaining chips” to be used in a future spy swap? That’s always the western narrative with these kinds of stories. It never occurs to us that they might be telling the truth.

    Ask yourself what would happen to a Russian reporter caught trying to dig up sensitive information in this country.

    1. As a writer, I don’t want to see writers arrested even if they are arguably assholes. I think it would be better handled by deporting them and banning them from re-entry.

      1. As a writer, or in my case as an engineer, it would behoove all of us to also pressure the USA and CIA not to use these job titles as cover for spies. The Church Committee (formally the United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities) investigated the CIA for turning the corporate mass media into a spying and propaganda machine and wrote laws to bring this to a halt, laws that are not enforced. I’ve written a few letters to the embassy and directly to the US State Dept. with this complaint. It’s probably why I get pulled aside at the immigration counter every time I visit the States.

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