US journalist Evan Gershkovich has said he understood soon after his arrest in Russia that he was being held as a potential bargaining asset rather than being treated as an alleged spy.
Speaking to Radio 4’s Today programme, the Wall Street Journal correspondent said masked men detained him during a reporting trip to Yekaterinburg in 2023. He had travelled to the city, about 1,600km east of Moscow, to meet a person he believed was a source for a story.
Gershkovich said the pair were in a partly empty dining hall when around six masked men entered and said, “I think we booked that table.” He said the unusual wording effectively stopped them in place before he was told he was under arrest by Russia’s FSB domestic security service. The man he had arranged to meet disappeared into the crowd, he said.
The journalist, who had been based in Russia since 2017, said the involvement of the FSB indicated the detention had been planned. He was accused of espionage, allegations that he and the Wall Street Journal have consistently rejected as false.
‘A pawn in a greater game’
Gershkovich said he felt an unexpected sense of relief when he was not subjected to interrogation or torture, which he described as tactics used by Russian security services against spies. He concluded that the case had been constructed to make him “a valuable hostage – a pawn in a greater game”.
That assessment helped him remain disciplined during his imprisonment, he said, because he believed the Russian authorities intended to exchange him rather than keep him for the full length of a possible sentence. He was later sentenced to 16 years in prison but was freed after 16 months in a high-profile prisoner swap on 1 August 2024.
Gershkovich said he expected his detention to generate widespread international attention because he was a foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. His case was reported internationally, his image appeared on a Times Square billboard, and then-US President Joe Biden said securing his release was a priority.
He believed Moscow wanted a prominent prisoner for an exchange involving Vadim Krasikov, an assassin serving a life sentence in Germany. Gershkovich said Russia had acted strategically, arguing that no sanctions were imposed over his detention.
Life after Lefortovo
Gershkovich was held in Moscow’s Lefortovo jail, which he described as isolating because of its small cells. He said he was allowed to sleep and that the food was adequate, while stressing that other people held in Russian prisons could face torture, food deprivation and other abuse.
During court appearances, Gershkovich smiled for cameras as an intentional display of defiance, he said. Since returning from Russia, he has sought help from therapists specialising in post-traumatic stress disorder. He said he experienced sleeplessness, panic attacks in crowds and difficulty managing emotions after his release, while writing about the experience also helped.
Now based in Berlin, Gershkovich said he hopes to return to Russia one day, but said it was unclear what the country would be like after President Vladimir Putin or whether a future government would be better.
Source: BBC News
