In a book excerpt, Evan Gershkovich describes his 2023 arrest in Yekaterinburg as an FSB sting while reporting on Russian military production. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison and freed in an East-West prisoner swap in August 2024.
Gershkovich writes that he met twice with a factory union boss while reporting for The Wall Street Journal. At their second meeting, the source produced hand-copied figures he said concerned tank production, and masked men arrested Gershkovich. He says he and his editors had agreed the source should bring no documents and he should accept none.
Since his release, Gershkovich says he learned the FSB had a backup plan to arrest him on a reporting trip to Siberia if the Yekaterinburg operation failed. He believes the two meetings were meant to help convince Vladimir Putin he was a spy and secure approval for his arrest. Putin said in a February 2024 interview that Gershkovich was caught red-handed; Gershkovich, The Wall Street Journal and the US government deny he was a spy. The Kremlin did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
