Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter who was detained by Russia for over a year, has spoken publicly about his experience in a recent interview.
Gershkovich was arrested on March 29, 2023, while reporting on a story in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg. He was accused of espionage, a charge that was widely condemned as a thinly disguised effort to take the reporter hostage. The Biden administration declared him "wrongfully detained," and The Wall Street Journal and U.S. government both denied the charge.
Gershkovich was detained for over a year before being freed in a massive prisoner swap in 2024. He has written a book about his experience, titled "This Cursed Beautiful Land," which provides a firsthand account of his ordeal. In the book, Gershkovich describes how he and a colleague were set up by a source they thought was legitimate, and how he was taken into custody by agents from the FSB, the successor to the Soviet-era KGB.
Gershkovich spoke about the moment when he realized he was being held by the FSB, and the subsequent treatment he received at the hands of his captors. He also described the moment when he learned that Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader, had been killed, which he said was a bleak moment for him and made him think that he would not be released.
Gershkovich was finally freed as part of a massive multinational prisoner swap in August 2024, along with former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.
NTC Report coverage is based on reporting from the original publisher.
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