There will be a hearing on April 18 in a Moscow court on an appeal that may determine if Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is held in prison or granted bail. On Thursday a Moscow court said it will hear an appeal from Evan’s lawyers, which is seen as a small step toward progress. He was grabbed last week by Russian authorities and accused of spying.

Evan’s lawyers are challenging his detention and the Wall Street Journal strongly denies espionage allegations. The appeal on April 18 will be heard at Moscow City Court. Evan’s colleagues and the White House also denied that Evan is a spy.

During the court hearing, the court could uphold Evan’s detention in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, order him moved to another jail, allow home arrest, or grant him bail and release him. The specific requests of Evan’s lawyers have not been released.

According to Russian law, the court’s final decision must be communicated in public but the proceedings take place behind closed doors. It is not yet clear if Evan will appear in person or by a video link.

The U.S. government has called for Evan’s immediate release. Secretary of State Blinken said Wednesday that there is no doubt in his mind that Evan has been wrongfully detained. Blinken has called for Evan’s release. When the Federal Security Bureau, the successor to the KGB, detained him, it marked the first time an American journalist has been detained since the Cold War. Evan is accredited by the Russian foreign ministry.

Evan was allowed to meet with his lawyer in prison earlier this week. As I wrote at the time, the State Department is working on freeing up additional resources.

The State Department is working on declaring Evan as “wrongfully detained” which frees up additional resources to help secure his release. The State Department is conducting an internal review of the circumstances surrounding Evan’s arrest and the designation is expected in the coming days. After that, the Office of hostage affairs will lead U.S. efforts to bring Evan home.

The U.S. Ambassador to Russia met with Russia’s deputy foreign minister to discuss the case.

On Thursday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said its deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, discussed Mr. Gershkovich’s case with U.S. Ambassador to Russia Lynne Tracy, after she raised the issue.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the charges against Mr. Gershkovich were of a serious nature, and it alleged that “he was caught red-handed while trying to obtain classified information, using his journalistic status as a cover for illegal actions qualifying as espionage.”

The Foreign Ministry also said Ms. Tracy was told that the “hype around this case, which is being fanned in the United States, with the aim of putting pressure on the Russian authorities and the court…is hopeless and senseless.”

A spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department confirmed the meeting took place but said that in general it doesn’t comment on diplomatic talks.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has entered the mix, too.

Also Wednesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined President Biden’s call to release Mr. Gershkovich, the latest national leader to raise objections to the arrest of the journalist.

Mr. Trudeau spoke to Mr. Biden “about Russia’s illegal detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and called for his immediate release,” his office said.

Additional international attention that is shined on Evan’s case by another foreign leader is probably welcomed by Evan’s family and colleagues but I can’t help but wonder what the family and friends of other American hostages in Russian prisons must be thinking as they read that. What about Paul Whelan? Is Trudeau demanding his release, too? What about Marc Fogel, a 61-year-old American teacher working in Russian schools who was arrested and sentenced to 14 years in prison for less than half an ounce of marijuana he used for pain relief? Is anyone working on his release? Brittney Griner was traded for the world’s most notorious arms dealer. Is a WNBA basketball player more important than a school teacher? Apparently so. Prisoner swaps are a slippery slope.

Evan was reporting in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on March 29 when he was grabbed while at dinner. His lawyers were expected to meet with him for the second time on Thursday. He hasn’t been allowed any visitors from the U.S. embassy yet. John Kirby, NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications (a.k.a. Biden’s Baghdad Bob), said, “It’s inexcusable. We need to get consular access to Evan.” This administration is feckless, as we have seen since the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez (D., N.J.) said it is outrageous that Evan has not received a visit from the embassy. “It is outrageous that they have denied the State Department one of the most basic tenets of this international treaty,” the senator said. “There is no excuse for failing to provide such access eight days into Mr. Gershkovich’s detention.”

There are real consequences when the U.S. president is seen as weak and inept. We see it played out now in how the rest of the world is treating the United States. Russia acts with impunity. An American journalist was grabbed out of a restaurant on a trumped-up charge of espionage. Would Putin have been emboldened to do that if Biden had not given him the arms dealer in Griner’s prisoner swap? What’s next?