James Beardsworth

freelance journalist found in @bbcworldservice @telegraph @moscowtimes. tweets rarely

[The Kyiv Independent @KyivIndependent]

In Sunday's election, the Armenian opposition is hoping to stop Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's Civil Contract party from winning a third consecutive term in office.

https://t.co/TldrNDVSbJ

[Mike Valerio @ValerioCNN]

🇺🇸🇺🇸 Journalist Alsu Kurmasheva greeted by POTUS, VPOTUS, and then, RUNS with open arms to her daughters and husband on the tarmac of Andrews.
What a joyous, beautiful reunion!!

[Al Drago @Al_Drago]

Journalist Evan Gershkovich lifts his mother, Ella Milman, as US President Joe Biden looks on, on the tarmac after arriving home at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on Thursday.

[Andrew Roth @Andrew__Roth]

@WSJ "There's one thing I would like to say. It was great to get on that bus today and see not just Americans and Germans but Russian political prisoners.” Evan on advocating for the hundreds of political prisoners left behind.

[Pavel Butorin @PashaButorin]

After over a year of separation and more than nine months of brutal detention, Alsu is finally free. Thanks to the unwavering efforts of the U.S. government and our tireless advocacy work, she will soon reunite with her family. Today, my daughters and I witnessed a historic act of resolve and compassion by the U.S. government and its allies, demonstrating that the free world values human life and family above all else, even when it means exchanging real criminals to save wrongfully detained Americans.

For more than nine months, Alsu was denied basic human dignity. She was locked up in horrific prison conditions, denied phone calls with her children or U.S. consular visits, and deprived of proper medical care. She was convicted in a secret trial for a crime she did not commit, held in jail solely because she is an American and an American journalist. The world knows that Alsu is not a criminal.

It has been an incredibly difficult year for our family. Through it all, Alsu's daughters have shown incredible courage and have become the best advocates for the Free Alsu cause. Not only will Alsu find that they have grown taller, but she will also find two young women who are more mature and more resolute about their own rights to free speech and expression as Americans and as free human beings. We can’t wait to embrace Alsu and begin helping her reintegrate into the free world after many months of unjust imprisonment.

I’m also overjoyed to see Evan, Paul, and Vladimir free. They shouldn’t have been imprisoned to begin with, and I’m happy they will soon reunite with their loved ones. 

Alsu will have so many supporters to meet and thank: members of Congress and U.S. government officials, the advocacy team and leadership at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the National Press Club, our friends at the Wall Street Journal, as well as the many press freedom groups and human rights organizations that have stood by us. We are grateful for the outpouring of support we have received as a family. At the same time, I am taking note of all those complicit in the wrongful detention and prosecution of my wife and the mother of my children. I hope that one day they will be brought to account. #FreeAlsu

[Pjotr Sauer @PjotrSauer]

Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva, Paul Whelan. Free!

[Pjotr Sauer @PjotrSauer]

EVAN IS FREE!!! Thank you to everyone who made this happen, who supported Evan and his family over the last 491 days. We have seen the best of humanity in action. My heart is so full.

Cant wait to hug you Vania ♥️

[James Beardsworth @Beardsworth13]

The nightmare is finally over and words really can’t do it justice. Just overjoyed for Evan and his family

[The Wall Street Journal @WSJ]

Breaking: Russia freed wrongly convicted WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich as part of the largest and most complex East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War https://t.co/MAPTNZ6Wdf

[Andrew Roth @Andrew__Roth]

Thinking about Evan today as he is sentenced to 16 years in prison on fake charges for espionage. Evan was taken by Russia as a hostage and should be released immediately. He is a dedicated journalist, a kind person, and a friend and we want to see him at home with his family.

[Polina Ivanova @polinaivanovva]

NEW: Russia is seeking an 18-year prison term for Wall Street Journal @WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich. His sentencing is likely later today. The trial is, of course, a sham, the accusations nonsense, and Evan a political hostage.

[Pavel Butorin @PashaButorin]

Today, June 2, marks one year since #Alsu was detained at Kazan airport and prevented from returning to her family in Europe after a two-week stay in Russia. This is the last selfie Alsu took with her kids a few days before her trip to Russia.

The Russian authorities had known for many years that Alsu was an @RFERL journalist and an American citizen. On June 2, 2023, they confiscated Alsu’s U.S. passport, already planning to concoct a criminal case against her, arrest her, and keep her in detention for political leverage against the United States. Alsu’s U.S. passport case could have been resolved within a couple of weeks, but the Russians intentionally dragged it on until October 2023, while deciding what to charge her with next, and then arrested her on October 18, 2023. Since then, Moscow has issued orders to keep Alsu in detention no matter what and to deny her phone calls with her children as a pressure tactic. Alsu has been charged with not declaring herself a ‘foreign agent’ and spreading what the Kremlin calls ‘false information’ about its war on Ukraine. Authorities in Kazan have no evidence to support these absurd charges, but they can’t defy Moscow’s orders either. The U.S. State Department still can’t decide whether Alsu’s detention in Russia for her work at a congressionally funded, editorially independent news organization is wrongful. We can’t expect justice from the Russian justice system. Alsu and her family rely on the U.S. government to mobilize the resources necessary to secure her safe release from wrongful detention in Russia. #FreeAlsu

[Maximilian Hess @zakavkaza]

Russian state news out TASS reporting Lieutenant General Yuri Kuznetsov, in charge of Main Directorate of Personnel, has been arrested. https://t.co/nuhMN7dySV never a boring day in the Kremlin these days

[Will Vernon @BBCWillVernon]

US Army confirms an American soldier has been detained in Russia:

[Pjotr Sauer @PjotrSauer]

Free Evan!

[Will Vernon @BBCWillVernon]

I spoke to the BBC Global Story podcast - along with @Beardsworth13 - about our friend & colleague Evan Gershkovich’s arrest one year on and what it means for Russia.

📻 Listen here:

https://t.co/DAOzrSuqmM

[Jake Cordell @JakeCordell]

Voting in Russia's presidential election underway in occupied Ukraine

📷AFP stringer

[Pjotr Sauer @PjotrSauer]

In jail, Russia’s most famous opposition leader faced some of the worst excesses of the Russian prison system. Navalny said the Kremlin wanted to break him, as a punishment for staying alive. His team feared worse. On Navalny's slow-motion death in prison
https://t.co/mKh01p03N1

[Pjotr Sauer @PjotrSauer]

Aleksei Navalny is dead, according to the Russia prison service and state media.

[max seddon @maxseddon]

On his birthday, seven months since Russia arrested him on absurd charges, a lovely piece about Evan Gershkovich’s Arsenal fandom.

Happy birthday buddy. Eddie Nketiah is a natural finisher and has massively improved his buildup play, just you watch

https://t.co/CnQmYjH9VO

[Felix Light @felix_light]

Morning in Goris, Armenia. The Armenian govt has booked out virtually every hotel room in town for Karabakh refugees, mostly villagers from frontline districts who took shelter with the Russian peacekeepers at Stepanakert airport when Azerbaijan attacked.