‘Not losing hope’: jailed Russia reporter Evan Gershkovich writes to his parents

Wall Street Journal reporter on espionage charges jokes about prison food in letter home

Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter imprisoned in Russia on espionage charges, has said in his first direct communication to his parents in the US that he is not losing hope", and joked in the letter about the quality of the prison food.

Gershkovich, 31, became the first American journalist to be detained in Russia on spying charges since the end of the cold war when he was detained in the city of Ekaterinburg, 1,100 miles (1,800km) east of Moscow, on 29 March.