Evan Gershkovich, an American journalist and reporter covering Russia for The Wall Street Journal, was detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service in March on charges of espionage. The arrest marks the first time an American journalist has been detained since the Cold War.

Experts have speculated that the motivation behind the order for Gershkovich’s arrest was an anticipated prisoner exchange for one or more high-profile Russians imprisoned in other countries.

Gershkovich’s parents, Ella and Mikhail Gershkovich, separately fled the Soviet Union during a period of mass emigration in the wake of rumors that Jews were about to be exiled in Siberia. They came to the United States in 1979 and eventually settled in Detroit, where they met. The couple moved to Princeton, NJ, where Gershkovich and his sister grew up, speaking Russian at home.

When arrested, he was working in Yekaterinburg, covering a Russian military organization.