As the reality of the predicament of a jailed Wall Street Journal reporter sinks in nearly one week after Evan Gershkovich’s arrest in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, his editors are under no illusions that his release will come swiftly or easily. In an article headlined “In Russian Courts,  Secret Trials and Near-Certain Convictions Await Accused Spies,” the newspaper states that Mr. Gershkovich “will face steep odds” given that Russian courts allow few means of defense against espionage charges. 

That is a sobering assessment for the 31-year-old reporter’s family and colleagues. It comes amid multiple reports that a representative of a Moscow district court has confirmed that lawyers for Mr. Gershkovich have already filed an appeal against the decision to hold him in pre-trial detention.

It comes despite mounting global outrage over the reporter’s arrest and the general realization that the charge of espionage that has been leveled against him is both fallacious and preposterous. For one thing, he was just an enthusiastic young reporter fluent in the local language doing his job. For another, the CIA adopted regulations as far back as 1977 barring the use of American reporters to aid in spying. 

A former director of the CIA’s Russia analysis and former staff advisor on Russia matters to Vice President Cheney, George Beebe, told C-Span that in light of that law, it is “highly unlikely that Evan Gershkowitz is an asset of the U.S. intelligence services or that his reporting is directed or influenced by the intelligence community.”

Mr. Beebe also said that Moscow appears to be “making an example of Gershovitch” on account of his critical reporting, adding that “Russian officials are unlikely to agree to release or exchange him any time soon for a Russian imprisoned in the United States.”

There has been speculation, though, that Moscow could be looking to exchange Mr. Gershkovich for a pair of suspected Russian spies recently arrested in Slovenia. 

The Wall Street Journal has categorically rejected the allegations from Russia’s federal security service, the FSB, and “seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter.”

In the meantime, the picture emerging through accounts of both the reporter’s colleagues and Russia experts is one of a passionate and talented reporter caught up in a rivalry between superpowers that has been exacerbated by more than a year of Russia’s war against Ukraine, during which time relations have sunk to Cold War lows and risk plunging even further. Although Secretary Blinken has spoken to his Russian counterpart about the situation, communication in general between Washington and Moscow is at a historically low ebb. 

A former NPR Moscow correspondent who is a friend of Mr. Gershkovich, Lucian Kim, told Fox News that “the fact that he’s being charged with espionage is very serious … as a foreign correspondent traveling outside of Moscow, you always pick up the attention of the local security services.” 

Mr. Kim said that “there’s a large tank factory north of Yekaterinburg” and the fact that Mr. Gershkovich was in the city and likely on his second trip there, “asking questions about public sentiment towards the Russian war effort … that put him in a place that he was not used to and could be used against him because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

As editors and free press advocates around the world rally behind the reporter in the hopes of expediting his release, it is unclear whether President Putin will even be aware of the mounting outrage. According to a Kremlin guard who recently fled Russia, the Russian leader does not use the internet or smartphones, and even demands that Russian state-run television be available on his foreign trips. That adds up to fertile ground for paranoia, which will likely not grease the wheels of Russian justice, such as it is. 

As for confronting Russia during its Security Council presidency, it’s an idea that probably won’t work. A former ambassador to Iraq and Turkey, James Jeffrey, told the Journal that because Mr. Putin is impervious to “shame,” America will have to find a way to negotiate directly with the Russians or find a go-between to work on Washington’s behalf.

The national security council spokesman, John Kirby, said the White House will do everything it can to bring Russian-held Americans home and it can be assumed and hoped that those efforts are both strenuous and ongoing.