--- description: Find out why Evan Gershkovich is one of the 100 most influential people of 2023. title: Evan Gershkovich: The 100 Most Influential People of 2023 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c004e06c1679ef3/698a3bce22fb85106de2e8e5/Evan-Gershkovich-time100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 13, 2023 # Evan Gershkovich by Simon Shuster  FILE - The Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich is shown in this undated photo. The State Department says Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged his Russian counterpart, in a rare phone, to immediately release Gershkovich, who was detained last week, as well as another imprisoned American, Paul Whelan. (The Wall Street Journal via AP, File) FILE - The Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich is shown in this undated photo. The State Department says Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged his Russian counterpart, in a rare phone, to immediately release Gershkovich, who was detained last week, as well as another imprisoned American, Paul Whelan. (The Wall Street Journal via AP, File)The Wall Street Journal/AP Under Vladimir Putin reporters have been jailed, beaten in the streets, and murdered. In March, the Kremlin opened another front in its war on the press by charging [Evan Gershkovich, a respected reporter](https://time.com/6269611/evan-gershkovich-imprisoned-russia-wsj-journalist/ "undefined") for the _Wall Street Journal,_ with espionage. He faces up to 20 years in prison. The American son of Soviet émigrés, Gershkovich understood the risks of reporting on Russia. He described it in July as a “regular practice of watching people you know get locked away for years.” The Russian invasion of Ukraine was in its sixth month by then, and most independent media had fled Moscow to avoid a wave of wartime persecution. Gershkovich decided not to move away, a risk fewer journalists will take with his arrest. Gershkovich’s case already [resembles a hostage crisis](https://time.com/6267183/evan-gershkovich-arrested-wsj-russia-espionage/ "undefined"). Putin might use it to squeeze concessions from the U.S., and if one result is further isolation of his country, that might suit him just fine. The fewer journalists there are like Gershkovich in Russia, the more freedom Putin gets to rule by lies. _Shuster is a TIME senior correspondent_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269877/evan-gershkovich/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269877/evan-gershkovich/"},"headline":"Evan Gershkovich","datePublished":"2023-04-13T10:32:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:05.517Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269877/evan-gershkovich/","keywords":["TIME 100","franchise","sponsorshipblock","TIME100 2023"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c004e06c1679ef3/698a3bce22fb85106de2e8e5/Evan-Gershkovich-time100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2c004e06c1679ef3/698a3bce22fb85106de2e8e5/Evan-Gershkovich-time100-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269877/evan-gershkovich/","name":"Evan Gershkovich"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME100 | The 100 Most Influential People of 2023","description":"See all the people on Time's 2023 Time 100 list","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/P6RIsapV/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2023-04-13T10:30:00.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/P6RIsapV.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269877/evan-gershkovich/","duration":"PT1M53S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/collections/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269877/evan-gershkovich/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```