Imprisoned Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has not yet received a consular visit from American officials, but official human rights monitors affiliated with the Russian government say he is reading Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman while in pretrial detention at Moscow’s Lefortovo prison.
In the first account of his condition in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison since he was arrested last week, the monitors said he cracked jokes as they explained basic prison procedures, such as how to write letters home.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday that the US is pressing Gershkovich’s case urgently. “We have been pushing hard since the moment we found out that he was detained by the Russians on ridiculous charges,” he said.