Evan Gerskovich was charged with espionage in order to set in train a process for Russian spies arrested in the West to be swapped for him. I would also just like to emphasize to your listeners that the US government does not use the CIA does not use US journalists for cover. It's actually prescribed by law is prevented under legislation from doing that even receiving intelligence from US journalists let alone using journalists as cover. So you're dealing with a very different regime and it seems to me as with so much about Putin's Russia when you hear Putin's Kremlin saying X, Y or Z that a foreign country is doing it's usually them projecting.
Evan Gershkovich’s detention is a callback to the last time a US journalist was accused of espionage in Russia — and to a Soviet-era tactic for manipulating the West.
This episode was produced by Amanda Lewellyn, edited by Amina Al-Sadi, fact-checked by Laura Bullard and Matt Collette, engineered by Patrick Boyd, and hosted by Noel King.
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