"Evan Gershkovich, a Wall Street Journal reporter in Russia, thought he was meeting a source. Instead he was arrested for spying."
In this tense, riveting first-person excerpt from his new book This Cursed Beautiful Land: A Russian Story, Evan Gershkovich recounts the harrowing months he spent as a prisoner in Russia, leading up to his eventual release in a complex, multi-country prisoner exchange. Even in the darkness, Gershkovich offers rays of light: care packages from friends, letters by the hundred, and a cautiously blossoming love with a friend in Berlin. We may know the ending, but the details of these days reveal what it takes to get there.
A few hours after my arrival, I heard a cart rolling down the hallway. A guard opened a kormushka — a feeder window in the door about the size of a human head. A man in a chef’s uniform filled my bowl with porridge, placed a piece of rancid-smelling boiled fish on my plate and gave me some weak tea. The reality of my new surroundings slammed into me.
Thoughts ricocheted inside my head. Earlier in the day I’d had a comforting one: they’ve taken me for a swap, I told myself. That’s all this is.
Now, curled up on the bed in my 12ft by 8ft cell, knees pulled to my chest, I thought, what if the FSB really does think I’m a spy and wants to make an example out of me? Maybe they don’t want to swap me at all. Maybe I really will spend 20 years here.
Laura Beil | Texas Monthly | July 2026 | 8,509 words
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| # | Наименование новости | Тональность | Информативность | Дата публикации |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Russia arrests Japanese journalist on suspicion of ‘espionage’ | 0 | 4.84 | 14-10-2026 |
| 2 | Хронология случаев задержания иностранных граждан по обвинению в шпионаже | 0 | 0 | 30-03-2023 |
| 3 | Russia’s arrest of Japanese journalist: Why are tensions rising? | 0 | 7.83 | 14-10-2026 |
| 4 | Песков: журналист The Wall Street Journal был задержан за шпионаж с поличным | 0 | 0 | 30-03-2023 |
| 5 | Захарова: публикации журналиста Гершковича не вызывали вопросов у правоохранителей | 0 | 0 | 31-03-2023 |
| 6 | Российского журналиста заочно арестовали по уголовному делу | 0 | 10 | 13-08-2026 |
| 7 | Что известно о задержании журналиста WSJ в России | 0 | 0 | 30-03-2023 |
| 8 | Журналиста Bellingcat Грозев заочно арестовали за незаконное пересечение границы РФ | 0 | 0 | 21-04-2023 |
| 9 | Бывший американский военнослужащий арестован по обвинению в сговоре с российской разведкой | 0 | 0 | 21-08-2020 |