Hours before Russia’s federal security service, the FSB, came for him, my best friend, Evan Gershkovich, sent me a text. How will Arsenal, the football team we both passionately supported from childhood, perform after the international break? he asked. Was Gabriel Jesus finally ready to start his first game after injury? I texted back. Evan’s reply never came. His phone had gone silent.
Hours later, he would be arrested on a bogus espionage charge in Ekaterinburg during a reporting trip for his newspaper, the Wall Street Journal.
