Putin ‘approved arrest’ of US journalist Evan Gershkovich

Russian President believed to have personally endorsed Evan Gershkovich’s arrest on espionage charges as Biden slams ‘totally illegal’ move.

Kremlin spokesman have denied that Putin orchestrated Gershkovich’s arrest. Picture: AFP

President Putin is believed to have personally approved the arrest of the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on charges of spying for the United States.

The initiative to arrest Gershkovich, the first US journalist to be detained on espionage charges in Russia for almost 40 years, is said to have come from hardliners in Russia’s security services. Putin then endorsed the move, reported Bloomberg, citing sources.

President Biden has called Gershkovich’s arrest “totally illegal” and Washington moved swiftly this week to designate him as “wrongfully detained”. Friends, colleagues and the Wall Street Journal also have described the allegations as ridiculous.

Gershkovich, 31, was seized by FSB security service officers while on assignment for the newspaper in Yekaterinburg, a city in Russia’s Urals region.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Picture: AFP

He is being held in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo prison and Russia has so far refused to allow him to meet US embassy officials. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. He “categorically” denied the charges at a court hearing last week, Russian state media said.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, denied that Putin had orchestrated Gershkovich’s arrest, saying that it was “the total prerogative of the special services”. However, the special services report directly to Putin, a former KGB officer who also briefly headed the FSB before entering politics.

Putin has depicted the war in Ukraine as a battle against Nato for Russia’s very existence and Gershkovich’s arrest is thought to signal a hardening of anti-western attitudes in the Kremlin. The International Criminal Court last month issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest on war crimes charges.

Biden told Gershkovich’s parents this week that Washington “is doing everything in its power to bring him home as quickly as possible”. Moscow has said that it will not give into US “pressure” over his case.

Some analysts believe the Kremlin seized Gershkovich to use him as a bargaining chip in a prisoner exchange. In December, Brittney Griner, a US basketball star who had been imprisoned by Russia on drug smuggling and possession charges, was exchanged for a Russian weapons smuggler who was serving 25 years in an American prison.

Griner, who was detained with vape cartridges containing cannabis oil at an airport in Moscow and sentenced to nine years in a prison camp, has urged the White House to use “every tool possible” to secure Gershkovich’s release. Negotiations are unlikely until Gershkovich has stood trial in Moscow, however. The chances of an acquittal are almost zero; less than 1 per cent of criminal cases result in a not-guilty verdict in Russia.

One other American is behind bars in Russia on espionage charges. Paul Whelan, a former US marine, was arrested in Moscow in 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in prison. He denies the charges and Washington has said it is working to bring him home.

The Times