Putin personally approves arrest of WSJ reporter Gershkovich

Russian President Vladimir Putin personally approved the arrest of US reporter Evan Gershkovich whom Russia accuses of espionage.

Source: Bloomberg citing its sources

Details: Bloomberg has pointed out that the Russian president’s endorsement of the move reflects the growing influence of Kremlin hardliners who push for deepening a confrontation with Washington.

The detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich triggered angry denunciations from the US and its allies, marking yet another low in US-Russian ties, which have spiralled since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine last year. 

"This should be a real wake-up call, not just to the US, but the broader West," said Alina Polyakova, president of the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington. "It’s signalling that in Putin’s mindset there’s no going back to a stable and reliable relationship."

Bloomberg has noted that as the war drags into its second year, the Kremlin has increasingly sought to portray it as an existential struggle against a NATO bent on destroying Russia. 

Moves like the war-crimes warrant against Putin issued by the International Criminal Court last month have only deepened the leadership’s sense that there’s no room to back down in a conflict that it expects to last for years. 

Russia will possibly try to swap Gershkovich for businessman Vladislav Klyushin who was found guilty in February of insider trading and hacking. Bloomberg has said that Russia insisted on including Klyushin in previous prisoner swaps. 

Background: 

• On 29 March, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) detained Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter, in Yekaterinburg, and a criminal case had been opened against him for espionage.
• The FSB believes that the journalist "on the instructions of the US side, was collecting information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the Russian military-industrial enterprises". Dmitry Peskov, press secretary for the President of the Russian Federation, said that the journalist was caught red-handed.
• WSJ denied Russia's accusations of espionage and demanded the journalist's release.
• The Moscow court ordered to detain Evan Gershkovich until 29 May. 
• The US Department of State designated Gershkovich "wrongfully  detained", which is equivalent to hostage status and expands the powers of the Department of State.

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