Evan Gershkovich on prison, Russia and liberty

U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich, who was released from detention in Russia, waves as he disembarks the aircraft upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, on Aug. 1, 2024. | REUTERS

Nov 9, 2026

When masked agents of Russia’s FSB security service wrestled Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich to the floor of a restaurant in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on March 29, 2023, he became the first U.S. journalist to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War. He was later sentenced to 16 years in prison before being freed in an East-West prisoner swap in August 2024. Gershkovich, the Journal and the U.S. government all strongly deny the allegation that he was a spy.

In his recently released book “This Cursed Beautiful Land,” Gershkovich, an American citizen whose parents emigrated from the Soviet Union before he was born, details his experience in prison and the cast of characters that he met along the way, from cellmates to investigators. All the while, he continued reporting, uncovering details of what he says was an elaborate FSB sting operation and the mechanics of the swap that would ultimately set him free.

Speaking to Reuters from Canada, the latest stop on a global book tour, Gershkovich reflects on his arrest, his time in prison and Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

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