Kurmasheva urges journalists to stand their ground in the fight for press freedom around the world

Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, arrested in Russia in 2023 and imprisoned for nine months, issued an urgent and powerful call to action Tuesday for journalists to stand their ground.

“We are all tired. With everything happening globally, not only here but everywhere. And the worst thing I hear is, 'Oh, I cannot do this anymore',” Kurmasheva said in a discussion with former Club President Emily Wilkins during the Press Freedom Team’s inaugural Cocktails and Conversations event at the National Press Club. “Let's really not do that now. It's not the time to be tired and there will be better times."

A journalist and editor at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Kurmasheva has been a prominent advocate for wrongfully detained journalists since being held in Russian prison for over nine months for spreading “false” information about the Russian military. She received the President’s Award from Wilkins at the 51st Annual National Press Club Journalism Awards dinner in August 2024, following her release from prison on Aug. 1, 2024 in a prisoner exchange.

Inspired by letters she received in prison, Kurmasheva’s advocacy work began with writing letters to other wrongfully detained journalists. However, she abandoned those efforts after journalist Nika Novak failed to receive even one letter out of a thousand sent to her. Kurmasheva said that letter writing lost efficacy once prison authorities started to realize that withholding letters is a powerful tool to control prisoners. 

She instead encourages journalists to find creative ways to engage in the fight for press freedom in authoritarian countries. For instance, Mikhail Zygar, exiled editor-in-chief of independent Russian news channel TV Rain, provides free history lessons to teachers in Russia from his residence in the United States. “History is now re-written in Russia,” Kurmasheva said. By engaging in creative solutions against disinformation, journalists like Zygar “continue their mission to inform the audience so the audience can choose… this life, or choose a different life for themselves.”

Kurmasheva and Wilkins also urged Club members to keep detained journalists’ names in the spotlight, including the approximately 50 currently behind bars in Russia.

“Make sure that, if you have the chance, to say their names, to retweet things about them, if you see them in the news – to share it… keep that spotlight, keep that awareness that there are still journalists out there who are wrongfully detained and deserve to be free, and deserve to be back home with their families,” Wilkins said.

Kurmasheva stressed the importance of adequate legal representation. “There are cases I'm working on – I have so many lawyers in my life right now, more lawyers than journalists.” Kurmasheva noted that there are only a few lawyers in Russia presently dedicated to freeing the imprisoned press.

A journalist in attendance from Voice of America (VOA), a U.S. government broadcaster shuttered by the Trump administration this spring, mentioned in the session’s question and answer period that there are currently nine journalists under VOA’s parent company, the U.S. Agency for Global Media, wrongfully imprisoned around the world. The next Cocktails and Conversations session on Nov. 12 will feature journalists from VOA.

Editor's Note, 10/30/25: The original version of this story mistakenly quoted Kurmasheva, saying "there are only five lawyers" in Russia working on cases involving imprisoned journalists there. She actually said "there are only a few lawyers." This has been corrected above.