Evan Gershkovich: The West Australian joins international movement in solidarity with imprisoned journalist

The West Australian has joined journalists from around the world in taking a swim in solidarity with reporter Evan Gershkovich to mark a year since he was imprisoned while working in Russia.

Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal correspondent, was locked up by Russian authorities and slapped with espionage-related charges on March 29 last year.

His employer and the US Government vehemently deny the allegations.

An international campaign has since been created to honour Gershkovich’s love of Brighton Beach, the one in both England and New York, as the one-year anniversary of his arrest approaches.

The West Australian’s Caleb Runciman visited Perth’s Brighton Beach while fellow journalists hit the water at Sydney’s Brighton-Le-Sands.

Melbourne’s Brighton Beach was also flooded with reporters after New Zealand’s The Otago Times kick-started the campaign in freezing waters at Dunedin’s beach of the same name.

Wall Street Journal reporter Alistair Macdonald, who organized the movement, said media outlets across the globe were keeping the spotlight on Gershkovich’s imprisonment by taking a dip.

“It seems fitting, given Evan’s fondness of Brighton Beach England and New York, that this will happen on nine different Brighton Beaches in seven different countries around the world,” Macdonald said.

Gershkovich’s close friend Jago Leckie said the WSJ correspondent took to the UK’s Brighton Beach to “escape” city life.

“When Evan was living in the UK, he used to love coming down to Brighton and walking along the seafront. Having spent summers at Brighton Beach (New York) in his youth, he felt a small sense of home comfort whilst here,” Leckie said.

Gershkovich — the son of Russian immigrants — moved to Moscow in 2017 to work for The Moscow Times and Agence France-Presse before joining the WSJ.

At the time of his arrest, the 32-year-old was covering the Ukraine war from WSJ’s bureau in Moscow.

More than 100 swimmers were expected to swim at 10 separate beaches for Gershkovich, with staff involved from media outlets including Reuters, Bloomberg, The New York Times, The Globe & Mail, Toronto Star and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Social media hashtag #IStandWithEvan continues to gain traction almost one year after his imprisonment.