Free journalists and back Ukraine

Opinion editor’s note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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“FREE EVAN,” read the buttons worn by the parents of Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter jailed by Russia on charges of espionage — allegations categorically denied by the journalist, by the Journal and by the Biden administration, which has officially designated Gershkovich as “wrongfully detained.”

His parents, Mikhail Gershkovich and Ella Milman, were at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday night as part of a State of the Union tradition in which members of Congress invite guests who often reflect their priorities. The invitation wasn’t from just any member, however, but from the House speaker, who admirably highlighted the injustice of journalists being detained. (Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian American journalist working for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, is also in the Kremlin’s grips.)

President Joe Biden mentioned Gershkovich in his speech, and in an interview with the Journal, Gershkovich’s parents expressed their appreciation for the president’s advocacy and for House Speaker Mike Johnson’s invitation.

The gestures were rare respites from the partisan tone taken by Biden, whose address sometimes sounded more like a campaign rally, and from the occasional heckling by some Republicans, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who unsubtly wore a red MAGA hat.

Beyond Gershkovich’s case, Russia in general provides another opportunity for bipartisanship — the kind that used to unite the country when Congress and the president shared the national security imperative of containing Soviet aggression, and before that addressing the rise of fascism in Europe, as Biden alluded to in the beginning of his speech.

FDR’s purpose, Biden said, “was to wake up the Congress and alert the American people that this was no ordinary time. Freedom and democracy were under assault in the world.”

And that’s again the case today.

“Overseas, [President Vladimir] Putin of Russia is on the march, invading Ukraine and sowing chaos throughout Europe and beyond,” Biden said. “If anybody in this room thinks Putin will stop at Ukraine, I assure you, he will not. But Ukraine can stop Putin if we stand with Ukraine and provide weapons they need to defend itself. That is all Ukraine is asking. They are not asking for American soldiers.”

Tragically, Ukrainian soldiers are increasingly in retreat in cities such as Avdiivka, where forces ran lethally low on munitions. More defeats will likely occur if Congress continues to delay or deny funding.

Beyond the Biden administration, the Senate, on a broad bipartisan basis, has approved a national security package with about $60 billion in funding for Ukraine. But so far it won’t even get a vote in the House, because Johnson himself is holding up the bill.

“I say this to Congress,” Biden said. “We must stand up to Putin. Send me a bipartisan national security bill. … History is watching. If the United States walks away, it will put Ukraine at risk. Europe is at risk. The free world will be at risk, emboldening others who wish to do us harm.”

Biden’s message to Putin, he said, “was simple: We will not walk away. We will not bow down. I will not bow down.”