ALERT – Following the same authoritarian playbook – As I just wrote about, last week communist Chinese authorities detained the entire staff of a U.S. corporate investigations firm in Beijing, and now Russia’s security service – the Federal Security Bureau (FSB) has arrested a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter in Moscow for ‘spying.’
Evan Gershkovich is a U.S. citizen and member of the Journal’s Moscow bureau.
These politically motivated false arrests are often used to send a message, to chill normally legal activities, or to provide leverage in negotiations or for trade.
And the Russians usually get a very good deal from these prisoner trades.
In December, the U.S. released notorious convicted Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout in exchange for U.S. women’s basketball star Brittney Griner, detained just before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
She was convicted of drug smuggling and possession of a small amount of hashish oil and sentenced to nine years in a penal colony.
The Kremlin refused to release former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan as part of that deal. Whelan has been detained in Russia since 2018 on what many believe are trumped-up espionage charges.
Gershkovich, who is accredited to work as a journalist in Russia by the country’s foreign ministry, was reportedly secretly detained in the city of Yekaterinburg on Wednesday while on a reporting trip.
The Russian news agency TASS reported that he was then taken to Moscow where he appeared in court with a state-appointed defense attorney and was ordered held in custody until May 29.
The Journal reported:
In Russia, espionage trials are often conducted in secret and it is rare for a court to acquit a defendant. Trials can take months to unfold.
“The Wall Street Journal vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich,” the Journal said. “We stand in solidarity with Evan and his family.”
Mr. Gershkovich’s detention and charge on the serious allegation of espionage—rather than lesser charges related to media laws or defaming the military—mean the case is likely to become a high-level diplomatic issue.
While new to the Journal, the 31-year-old Gershkovich is a seasoned reporter with lots of experience in Russia. A graduate of Bowdoin College, he joined the Journal in January 2022, but he has worked as a reporter in Russia since 2017.
Previously he reported for the Moscow Times and Agence France-Presse. He was also a news assistant for the New York Times in Manhattan. Gershkovich recently wrote about the impact of Western sanctions on Russia’s economy.
And now the horrible Russian ‘spy exchange game’ for Gershkovich begins. As the WSJ reports:
Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, asked Thursday about the chance of an exchange for Mr. Gershkovich, said it was premature to discuss the issue.
“I would not even raise the question right now” because past exchanges involved people already serving sentences, Mr. Ryabkov was quoted by state newswire RIA Novosti as saying. “We’ll see how this story develops further.”
This is a breaking news story. Click refresh for the latest updates.
Yes, Mr. Crespo, Sir! This arrest for ‘espionage’ is very likely a typical tit-for-tat campaign of vendetta against USA for some reason of Putin’s crafting: either for our helping Ukraine or expanding NATO or the Nordstream Pipeline bombing (whether WE did it or not). This is likely a reanimation of an old Soviet KGB tactic in which Mr. Colonel Putin is a subject matter expert.