In his nearly 15 months in Moscow’s infamous Lefortovo prison, Evan Gershkovich has plowed through Russian literary classics like “War and Peace” and played slow chess by mail with his father in the United States. He tries to keep himself in shape during the one-hour exercise period he is allowed every day.
Friends who correspond with him describe Gershkovich, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, as positive, strong and rarely discouraged, despite the official wrath of President Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
“He may have his ups and downs like everyone else, but he remains confident in himself and in his rightness,” said Maria Borzunova, a Russian journalist and friend of Gershkovich.
