Evan Gershkovich says he was 'lured into a trap' before Russian arrest

US journalist Evan Gershkovich has described the moment he was detained by masked men in Russia in 2023, saying he believed he had been lured into a trap. In his first interview in the UK, he said the arrest in Yekaterinburg began when a group of about half a dozen masked men entered a restaurant and told him, "I think we booked that table." He said the encounter quickly turned into an arrest by the FSB, Russia's domestic security service. Gershkovich said he was in Yekaterinburg, about 1,600km east of Moscow, meeting someone he thought was a source for a story when the men arrived.

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He said the person he had been meeting disappeared into the crowd after the arrest. According to his account, the fact that he was not interrogated or tortured led him to conclude that he was being treated as a bargaining chip rather than a conventional criminal suspect. He said that realisation gave him a sense of relief because it suggested the case had been fabricated and that he would not be held for many years.

Gershkovich was later sentenced to 16 years in prison, before being freed 16 months later in a high-profile prisoner swap. He said he understood the case as part of a broader dynamic in which detainees can become "a valuable hostage" in a larger geopolitical exchange. The account adds detail to one of the most closely watched detention cases involving a Western journalist in Russia in recent years.

Gershkovich had been living in Russia since 2017 and was working as the Moscow correspondent for the Wall Street Journal when he was arrested. He and his employer have consistently maintained that the espionage allegations were false. The case drew international attention because it combined press freedom concerns with wider tensions between Russia and Western governments.

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Gershkovich's description of the arrest as planned and theatrical also underlines the role that security services can play in politically sensitive detentions. His remarks are likely to renew scrutiny of how such cases are used in negotiations over prisoners and detainees. Gershkovich, now 34, is based in Berlin after his release.

He said the experience of being treated as a hostage rather than a spy helped him remain "stable and disciplined" in prison. His comments also revisit the circumstances of his work in Russia, where he had been reporting from Moscow for years before the arrest. What remains unclear from his account is the full extent of the planning behind the arrest and the role of the person he was meeting that day.

It is also not clear whether his latest remarks will prompt any official response from Russian authorities. What is clear is that the case remains a reference point in discussions about detention, espionage allegations and prisoner swaps between Russia and the West.

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