Wall Street Journal calls for US policy change on hostage takers after Gershkovich release: ‘Pay a price’

The Wall Street Journal is calling for a more assertive U.S. policy stance against hostage takers after their reporter, Evan Gershkovich, was released from Russia.

On Thursday, the paper's editorial board said beneath their relief and gratitude for Gershkovich's release lies an "ugly truth": Russia and other "thuggish regimes" take hostages because it works.

"Mr. Putin has paid no price for imprisoning Mr. Gershkovich beyond bad publicity, and that he can ignore. At the same time he has won the release of his spies and an assassin. The release of [Vadim] Krasikov means he can tell his killers that even if they are captured abroad, he has a strategy to win their release," the board wrote.

The paper noted that this revelation poses an "awful dilemma" for U.S. policymakers. Once a hostage is taken, it can be difficult for a president to ignore their fate. A better policy, the board wrote, would be to deter hostage takers by letting them know "they will pay a price" for imprisoning Americans.

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The board also questioned why the Biden administration chose not to arrest any Russian or expel any Russian journalists in the wake of Gershkovich's capture.

"The current global perception of U.S. weakness has bad consequences for press freedom and Americans abroad," the board said.

Without substantial change, the Wall Street Journal predicted that more Americans will be taken hostage in the future.

"This will be true for Donald Trump as much as for Kamala Harris next year. Hostage takers will test any new President. None of this reduces our joy at Evan's release, but leaders have to think hard about how to prevent the innocent hostages of the future," they added.

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Gershkovich and American veteran Paul Whelan were moved to U.S. custody after a massive swap of political prisoners involving the U.S. and Russia, a senior administration official confirmed to Fox News on Thursday morning. Alsu Kurmasheva, another American citizen, and Vladimir Kara-Murza, a green card holder, were also freed.

Gershkovich, 32, was arrested on March 29, 2023, while reporting on a trip to the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg and accused of espionage. The Biden administration declared him "wrongfully detained," and The Wall Street Journal and the U.S. government both emphatically denied the charges, calling them absurd on their face.

The last time Russia exchanged prisoners with the U.S. was December 2022, when it freed basketball player Brittney Griner in exchange for arms dealer Viktor Bout. Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia for smuggling and possessing cannabis. As in Gershkovich's case, Griner's harsh sentence was viewed as Russia effectively taking an American hostage to obtain leverage over the U.S.

Fox News' David Rutz, Brian Flood and Timothy H.J. Nerozzi contributed to this report.