Full Breakdown
Evan Gershkovich Claims His 2023 Arrest Was a Pre-Planned FSB Sting
By Drooid · · How we work
The Reporter’s Account of the 2023 Arrest
In an excerpt from his forthcoming book *This Cursed Beautiful Land*, U.S. reporter Evan Gershkovich describes how a 2023 meeting in Yekaterinburg turned into an orchestrated trap by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). While pursuing a Wall Street Journal story on Russian military production, Gershkovich says he met twice with a union boss from a local defence-industry factory. During the second encounter in a steakhouse, the source allegedly handed him hand-copied tables of tank-production figures. As Gershkovich noted the documents, masked men approached, handcuffed him, placed a sack over his head, and forced him into a van, where he was subjected to a chokehold and a punch to the abdomen.
Alleged FSB Planning and a “Backup” Scheme
Gershkovich asserts that the two Yekaterinburg meetings were deliberately staged to convince President Vladimir Putin that he was a spy, thereby securing approval for his arrest. He adds that, after his release, he learned the FSB had prepared a “backup plan” to detain him on a subsequent reporting trip to Siberia if the Yekaterinburg operation had failed. According to Gershkovich, Putin “fully bought into this narrative,” a view he bases on a February 2024 interview in which Putin claimed Gershkovich was caught “red-handed” while gathering confidential information.
Aftermath, Sentencing and Release
Gershkovich, then 31, became the first U.S. journalist charged with espionage in Russia since the Cold War. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison but was freed as part of an East-West prisoner swap in August 2024.
Official Responses
The Kremlin has not responded to requests for comment on Gershkovich’s new allegations. The journalist, the Wall Street Journal, and the U.S. government all categorically deny that Gershkovich acted as a spy, maintaining that his work was legitimate reporting.