Nick Dannelloff is the former Moscow bureau chief for US News and World Report. He was not especially surprised when Evan Gershkovich was arrested in August of 1986. Being in prison is no good either in the United States or in Russia, he says.
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.
Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained
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