YEKATERINBURG   -   US reporter Evan Gershkovich was sentenced by a Russian court on Saturday to 16 years in prison for “espionage”, a verdict slammed as “despicable”, “disgraceful” and a “sham” by Western governments and his employer. Gershkovich was sentenced after just three court sessions in a secretive closed-door trial in the Urals City of Yekaterinburg, the city where he was arrested while on a reporting trip in March 2023. After the sentencing, US President Joe Biden said Gershkovich was “targeted by the Russian government because he is a journalist and an American.” “We are pushing hard for Evan’s release and will continue to do so,” he added in a written statement published by the White House.

Both Washington and Moscow say talks over a prisoner swap are ongoing.

Russia has previously said its policy is not to trade people before they have been convicted, suggesting Friday’s sentence could pave the way for the 32-year-old journalist to finally be swapped in a deal.

US presidential candidate Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social site: “Biden will never get him out, unless he pays a ‘king’s ransom.’ I will get him out for no compensation immediately following our victory on November 5th, and it will be my great honor to do so.”

In court on Friday, Gershkovich did not appear to react to the sentencing, standing in a glass defendants’ cage in dark trousers and a T-shirt. He waved to his journalist colleagues as he was led away.

Judge Andrei Mineyev said Gershkovich would be sent to a “strict regime colony” -- a Russian prison camp notorious for harsh conditions and strict rules. The Wall Street Journal correspondent, who pleaded not guilty, became the first journalist in Russia to be charged with spying since the Cold War when he was detained in 2023.

He has spent almost 16 months in detention on charges the United States government and his employer have always said are fabricated.

“This disgraceful, sham conviction comes after Evan has spent 478 days in prison, wrongfully detained, away from his family and friends, prevented from reporting, all for doing his job as a journalist,” the Journal’s publisher Almar Latour and editor-in-chief Emma Tucker said in a statement.

Washington believes he is being held as a bargaining chip to secure the release of Russians convicted abroad.

His trial has moved rapidly since the first hearing in late June, with the prosecution and defence teams giving their final arguments on Friday.

Other similar cases in Russia have dragged on far more slowly, with several weeks or even months between hearings.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the sentencing “despicable,” adding that it “only serves to underscore Russia’s utter contempt for media freedom.”

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the case was “politically motivated” and demonstrated Russian President Vladimir “Putin’s fear of the power of facts.”

UN spokesman Farhan Haq shared “serious concerns,” telling reporters: “Journalists should be able to perform their essential professional functions and work in a safe environment without fear of reprisals.”

Russian opposition figure Yulia Navalnaya denounced Gershkovich’s “unjust” conviction, writing in a social media post: “We must fight for every person serving an unjust sentence in Putin’s prison and demand their immediate release.”

The Kremlin has provided no public evidence for the espionage allegations, saying only that Gershkovich was caught “red-handed” spying on a tank factory in the Urals region while working for the CIA. The prosecutor said Friday that Gershkovich acted with “careful measures of secrecy”.

Tensions are running extremely high between the countries over Moscow’s military offensive in Ukraine.

Moscow and Washington have both said they are open to exchanging the reporter in a deal, but neither has given clues on when that might happen.

When asked Friday, the Kremlin refused to speculate about the prospect of a prisoner swap.

Moscow’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that talks between US and Russian special services over possible prisoner exchanges were ongoing, without naming any specific individuals.

Putin has implied he wants to see the release of Vadim Krasikov, a Russian convicted in Germany of killing a Chechen separatist commander. German judges said it was an assassination orchestrated by Russian authorities.

Among other US nationals detained in Russia are reporter Alsu Kurmasheva and ballerina Ksenia Karelina, who are both dual US-Russian citizens, and former US marine Paul Whelan, who is serving a 16-year sentence for spying.

The White House has warned US citizens still in Russia to “depart immediately” due to the risk of wrongful arrest.

The US-born son of Soviet emigres raised in New Jersey, Gershkovich had reported from Russia since 2017, still returning for reporting trips following Russia’s Ukraine offensive.

In Moscow’s isolated Lefortovo prison, where he was held for more than a year in pre-trial detention, he communicated with friends and family in hand-written letters that revealed he had not lost hope.