- Published
US journalist Evan Gershkovich has said that he knew he was being set up by Russia when he was arrested by FSB agents and accused of being a spy.
asserted
he → publish → agents
In his first UK interview, Gershkovich told the BBC about the moment he realised he had been "lured into a trap" when masked men surrounded him at a restaurant in 2023, and detained him.
"I'm not interrogated, I'm not tortured…
asserted
I → tell → him
I'm accused of espionage," he said, describing a sense of relief: "They've set me up and fabricated this case so that I can be a valuable hostage - a pawn in a greater game".
asserted
I → accuse → game
Gershkovich, now 34, was sentenced to 16 years in prison, but freed 16 months later as part of a high-profile prisoner swap deal.
asserted
Gershkovich → sentence → deal
Gershkovich had been living in Russia since 2017, and was the Wall Street Journal's foreign correspondent in Moscow when he was arrested - he is now based in Berlin, Germany.
asserted
he → live → Berlin
He and his employer have always maintained that the charges were false.
asserted
charges → maintain → ?
On the day he was arrested, Gershkovich was in Yekaterinburg - about 1,600km (1,000 miles) east of Moscow - meeting someone who he thought was a source for a story.
asserted
he → arrest → story
They were sitting in a half-empty dining hall "and a group of about half-dozen masked men marched in and said 'I think we booked that table'."
asserted
we → sit → table
An odd phrase, Gershkovich said, but on reflection it is clever because it "freezes you in place".
asserted
it → say → place
The two men stood up and Gershkovich was told he was under arrest by the notorious and powerful FSB, Russia's domestic security service.
asserted
he → stand → FSB
"It's at that moment that you realise it's something really serious…
asserted
it → realise → moment
When it's the FSB, you know it's been planned."
asserted
it → know → ?
What about the man he'd been meeting? Gershkovich saw him disappear into the crowd.
asserted
him → meet → crowd
Not long after his arrest, the journalist said he realised that the fact he was not being interrogated or tortured - common tactics used by Russia's security service on spies - likely meant that he was being treated more like a commodity, not a true enemy of the state.
asserted
he → say → state
"I have this odd moment - a sense of relief flooding over me," he said.
asserted
he → have → me
"I realised they're not treating me like a real spy.
asserted
they → realise → spy
They've set me up and fabricated this case so that I can be a valuable hostage, a pawn in a greater game.
asserted
I → set → game
That means it will take a while, but I won't be here for 12-20 years."
asserted
I → mean → years
That realisation helped him stay "stable and disciplined in prison", but also gave him a unique way of predicting what might happen next - and one guess was a prisoner swap.
uncertain
guess → help → way
"I assumed that it would be really loud, that it would cause a global uproar.
asserted
it → assume → uproar
I mean, it's a foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal," he said - and he was right.
asserted
he → mean → Journal
Media organisations around the world reported on the case, his face was on a billboard in Times Square and then-US President Joe Biden said he had "no higher priority" than bringing Gershkovich home.
asserted
he → report → Gershkovich
The journalist believed that this was all part of Moscow's plan - to have a high-profile prisoner that it could swap for one of its own - and that was Vadim Krasikov, an assassin who was serving a life sentence in Germany.
"They [Moscow] got away with it in the sense that there were no sanctions imposed.
uncertain
They → believe → sense
And so they played it really smart, if you think about it cynically."
asserted
you → play → it
Gershkovich was held in Moscow's infamous Lefortovo jail, which has held some of the country's most high-profile inmates over the years, including political prisoners and dissidents.
asserted
which → hold → prisoners
He described it as a "really isolating experience", in a tiny space.
asserted
He → describe → space
"That wears on you psychologically," Gershkovich said, but added that he was treated ok: "I was allowed to sleep, the food was fine."
asserted
food → wear → you
Pictures of Gershkovich smiling at cameras during his court appearances in Moscow were broadcast around the world - and that was deliberate, he said - a way of showing that he was alright.
asserted
he → smile → world
"I wanted to show people this kind of defiance...
asserted
I → want → defiance
We know that this is a fabricated case, and so if this is a game of theatre, let's not let [Moscow] have it play out the way they want it to.
asserted
it → know → theatre
But he stressed that not everyone's time in a Russian prison is like his: "Some people... get tortured.
asserted
people → stress → his
They get broken as human beings, deprived of food, of hot water for showers, told that they're never going to see their families again.
asserted
they → break → families
I was treated completely differently."
asserted
I → treat → ?
Gershkovich compared his experience to the case of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, who died while in Russian captivity in 2024, aged 27.
asserted
who → compare → 2024
Months later, when her body was finally returned, it reportedly showed signs of torture and her organs had been removed.
uncertain
organs → return → torture
Gershkovich knew there was a prisoner swap planned three weeks before it happened - an "excruciating" time, he said, "because now every day is painfully long".
asserted
day → know → ?
When it finally did happen, on 1 August 2024, it was a moment of "pure joy".
asserted
it → happen → joy
But then "the joy fades, the adrenaline subsides, and you're faced with the reality of having to return to normal life again."
asserted
you → fade → life
Gershkovich said this period was difficult and sometimes overwhelming.
asserted
period → say → ?
He wasn't sleeping, suffered panic attacks in large crowds and had a short temper because he was trying to hold in his emotions.
asserted
he → sleep → emotions
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
