The husband of a Russian-American journalist working for a US government-funded media company who is detained in Russia has called for her immediate release.
Alsu Kurmacheva’s husband, Pavel Butorin, said the couple are due to celebrate their 21st anniversary this week.
Ms Kurmasheva, an editor with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Tatar-Bashkir service, was detained on October 18th and charged with failing to self-register as a “foreign agent”.
She is being held in a detention centre, awaiting a trial on charges that could that see her jailed for up to five years.
“We want her back,” her husband said.
Mr Butorin told The Associated Press in an interview in Prague on Friday: “Alsu should be celebrating this anniversary with me and our children at home, not in a Russian prison.
“We want her back. Alsu must be released as soon as possible.”
Ms Kurmasheva was detained on October 18th, becoming the second US journalist detained in Russia this year, after Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich was arrested on espionage charges in March.
Her ordeal began in May when she decided to travel to Russia’s Tatarstan to see her ailing, elderly mother for what was supposed to be a short trip.
On June 2nd, she was about to board a return plane for home at Kazan International Airport when she was temporarily detained, both her passports and phone were seized and she was fined for failing to register her US passport with Russian authorities.
“But before Alsu was able to pay the fine that was eventually issued, she was charged with a much more serious offence, and that is failure to register as a foreign agent,” Mr Butorin said.
The state-run news website Tatar-Inform said Ms Kurmasheva faces charges of failing to register as a “foreign agent” and was collecting information on Russian military activities “in order to transmit information to foreign sources”.
Russia uses the legal term, which carries additional scrutiny and strong pejorative connotations, to label and punish critics of its official policies.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has called the charges against Ms Kurmasheva “spurious”, saying her detention “is yet more proof that Russia is determined to stifle independent reporting”.
Mr Butorin said his wife did not travel to Russia as a journalist and was doing no reporting work there.
“Alsu was well aware of the risks that were associated with a possible trip to Russia,” Mr Butorin added.
“But she is a devoted daughter.”
He said he believed his wife was imprisoned “because she is a journalist with Radio Free Europe and she is an American citizen”.
Ms Kurmasheva reported on ethnic minority communities in the Tatarstan and Bashkortostan republics in Russia, including projects to protect and preserve the Tatar language and culture despite “increased pressure” on Tatars from Russian authorities, her employer said.
Independent media and journalists in Russia have faced immense pressure after the Kremlin sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022. The authorities adopted a law criminalising “spreading false information” about the Russian army.
Analysts have pointed out that Moscow may be using jailed Americans as bargaining chips after US-Russia tensions soared when Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in 2022.
At least two American citizens arrested in Russia in recent years – including WNBA star Brittney Griner – have been exchanged for Russians jailed in the US.
Russia has not informed US authorities of her detention whereabouts and she has not been granted consular access, Mr Butorin said.
The only means of communication with Ms Kurmasheva is through passing “notes” to her. “We know that those notes are being censored,” Mr Butorin said, without giving further details.
He said he does not have much information about her indictment but what he knows is that it is quite cold in her cell.
He was grateful for the US state department’s approach to the case.
“I do hope that the United States government uses every avenue and every means available to it, including the designation of Alsu as a wrongfully detained person to ensure her speedy release from Russian detention,” he added.
“We want Alsu to know that she’s not alone. We want her to know that we will get her out of there and no effort is being spared to get her release as soon as possible.”
The family has had a tough time coping with the situation.
“We have young daughters, but they’re very strong,” Mr Butorin said. “But they miss their mother they want her back.”
