Journalism is not a crime. Yet for Vladimir Putin, illegally detaining foreign nationals, whether journalists or otherwise, has become a key plank of his foreign policy.
The trade that returned Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich to his home followed years of secret back-channel negotiations between Washington and Moscow, amid Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It also included the repatriation of others such as Paul Whelan, a corporate security executive with joint British nationality from Michigan, and dual Russian-British dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza.
