Who is Evan Gershkovich? What friends say about the Wall Street Journal reporter detained in Russia

To the rest of the world, Evan Gershkovich is a 31-year-old U.S. citizen and Wall Street Journal reporter being held in Russia. But to those who know him best, he's just Evan -- a "normal American guy" in addition to his career as a journalist deeply committed to covering Russia, a country he loved reporting from.

"I knew that sweater," Pjotr Sauer, who met him five years ago when both were working at The Moscow Times, said of Gershkovich's attire in photos of his arrest. "I've seen him a million times in that sweater. I joked about the fact that he had that one sweater, so it's just surreal. There are no words to describe how you feel as a person when you see those images."

"It was earth-shattering," said Sam Patterson, who was roommates with Gershkovich in their senior year at Maine's Bowdoin College. "It's something that we had asked Evan about, whether he was ever concerned about something like this happening, and so to see his name on a New York Times news alert, I just couldn't believe it. I really could not believe it. "

Thatcher Foster, who met Gershkovich playing soccer when they were six-year-olds, said the two had just been joking about which of their friends' weddings Gershkovich would attend this summer since he had at least three, including Foster's, in June.

"It's hard to process ... because it's Evan, our really smart, caring friend who four days before we were FaceTiming, asking him what wedding he was going to come to this summer," he said. "He was very apologetic that he couldn't make all three."

Gershkovich, a New Jersey native who has lived and worked in Moscow as an accredited journalist for the last six years, was in a restaurant in Yekaterinburg last Wednesday, March 29, when Russia's Federal Security Service arrested him on espionage charges that the Wall Street Journal, his colleagues and the U.S. government have said are absurd.

Gershkovich has pleaded not guilty and the Wall Street Journal has vehemently denied the allegations, calling the charges “categorically false" in a statement Friday.

Dozens of the world’s leading media outlets have condemned Gershkovich’s arrest, signing onto a letter released by the Committee to Protect Journalists defending him as a reporter doing his job.

Russian investigators now allege he was "acting on the instructions of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex" and "trying to obtain secret information" at the time of his arrest.

Foreign policy experts speculate it's more likely the Kremlin is using Gershkovich as a pawn to make a prisoner exchange for one or more high-profile Russians imprisoned abroad, similar to the case of WNBA star Brittney Griner and Marine Corp veteran Paul Whelan who is currently serving a 16-year prison sentence on espionage charges. Others say his imprisonment is also a way to intimidate Western journalists still reporting in Russia as President Vladimir Putin faces widespread recriminations for invading Ukraine.

Sauer, Patterson and Foster are among a network of friends, stateside and abroad, who have sprung into action to demand Gershkovich's release.

Here's how they described him to ABC News:

Russian culture enthusiast

Gershkovich grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, with one older sister, Danielle, whom he adores. The siblings spoke Russian at home and watched Soviet-era cartoons with their parents, Ella and Mikhail, who emigrated from the Soviet Union in the late 1970s, during a time of mass exodus for Russia's Jewish population.

After graduating from Bowdoin as a philosophy and English major in 2014 and then moving to Brooklyn, Gershkovich spent several weekends out of the year visiting his grandmother in Brighton Beach, home to the largest Russian-speaking population in the Western Hemisphere.

"With his parents, I think there was always a more dynamic relationship with their views on Russia, but for Evan, he was always very proud and that showed when he was in Moscow," Foster said. "Russia was always a huge part of his life."

Friends stateside said they weren't surprised when he landed a job with The Moscow Times in 2016, just disappointed they wouldn't see him around.

"Being able to leverage his language experience and his experience [as a news assistant] at the New York Times, he found this perfect role for him," Foster added. "We always hoped that he wouldn't love it as much as he did, because we missed him here in New York."

Foreign correspondent

And in Moscow, his career flourished.

He moved on from The Moscow Times in 2020 to report for Agence France-Presse, before joining the prestigious Wall Street Journal as a correspondent last year.

In his first month on the job, he traveled to the border of Belarus and Ukraine and witnessed wounded Russian soldiers' retreat.

Sofiya Voznaya, a Kazakhstan-born artist, recalled her awe when she first met Gershkovich in Moscow two years ago, having already read his reporting on how Russia handled COVID.

"He's a great person, but he also is a great journalist," she told ABC News. "Very intelligent, very smart, speaks Russian really well, and really understands Russia."

Soccer fan -- and sometimes star

Whether playing the sport himself, watching it over beers, or teasing strangers about the superiority of his beloved Arsenal team, Gershkovich carried his love for soccer across continents.

When he was captain of the Princeton High School soccer team in his senior year, they won the state championship. He walked on the team at Bowdoin and, despite not playing all season, made the winning point at a conference tournament in his freshman year.

"After not playing a minute all year, he walked on and scored the decisive penalty kick to have them win a conference tournament -- so he's got a few 'I Am Legend' miracle moments in his career," said Foster, who grew up with Gershkovich's dad coaching their soccer team.

"I was so blown away by that -- as a freshman, looking at this guy who's my age, who just took on a leadership role for his team and was really brave," Patterson said. "And that's kind of the image of Evan that has always been in my head since."

Wired for connection

Gershkovich joined a soccer league when he moved to Moscow as part of his efforts to get to know his surroundings, but he was cognizant of staying connected to family and friends at home.

"He was always keeping us plugged in on how he played each game and making sure we knew the stats," Foster joked. "We'd talk about that or make fun of our impending baldness or our sore backs, whatever it was. ... We didn't see him as much, but we were really in touch all the time."

That's why Sauer was concerned when he didn't hear back from Gershkovich last week and began to fear for the worst once Gershkovich's father called him to ask if he knew the whereabouts of his son.

"Evan was always online. We always talk. So what followed was a sleepless night," Sauer said. "It's like you're living a nightmare. You hope you're just going to wake up from a bad dream, ... but you also have to come to action and do everything you can to help your friend."

Sauer later discovered their text conversation occurred just two hours before the journalist was arrested.

'#IStandWithEvan'

Gershkovich is currently held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, a former KGB jail that is known as one of Russia’s most isolating. A judge has ordered he be held there until at least 29 May, where a new hearing will rule whether to extend his detention, which most experts say is almost certain.

If convicted, he could face a 20-year prison sentence.

His friends now are campaigning to keep a spotlight on his case while the U.S. government works to try to secure his release. Some experts believe a prisoner exchange is the most likely hope for freeing Gershkovich, as in the cases of Griner and Trevor Reed, a former Marine veteran who was held in Russian detention for nearly three years on trumped up charges. Griner was traded for the arms dealer Viktor Bout and Reed for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a pilot convicted on drug smuggling charges, in separate exchanges last year.

"He was in Russia working hard, tirelessly, so that we in the West knew what was going on in the country. He stayed despite the war," said Sauer. "So, I think, now it's time for us ... to shine a light on him."

The Wall Street Journal has lifted its paywall for updates on Gershkovich's case and on all of his reporting. His friends have also created a website to spread awareness on how to help and track the time he's spent "wrongfully" detained.

ABC News' Caroline Guthrie contributed to this report.

Editor's note: The Wall Street Journal has never publicly confirmed what story Evan Gershkovich was working on before he was detained.