Why Putin likely arrested WSJ reporter
Former CIA station chief Dan Hoffman says Evan Gershkovich was likely detained because Vladimir Putin ‘does not like the free press,’ wants to ‘ignite’ an ‘anti-West’ hysteria in Russia and might want to make a trade.
Former CIA station chief Dan Hoffman explains Russia's likely reasoning for arresting Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. The Fox News contributor told ‘America Reports’ that Russia wants to silence the press, ignite ‘anti-West’ feeling in Russia and hold Gershkovich for a trade.
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DAN HOFFMAN: Vladimir Putin doesn't like the free press. So that's the first reason why Evan was detained, because Russia has really sought to ensure that there's no such thing as freedom of the press in their country. And there's no discussion allowed about Putin's war on Ukraine among the general population. And so, Evan would be considered a threat.
But the second reason I think they detained him is because Putin wants to ignite this anti-West hysteria that that the enemy's not just at the gates, but inside the gates, that the West is spying on Russia. I think, as you mentioned earlier, this is the first time a U.S. Journalist has been detained since the Cold War. That's a big deal. But Vladimir Putin is a KGB operative. It's kind of a throwback time for us. The third thing – I think this is a little bit longer term – is that Russia would like to make a trade.
One of their deep undercover intelligence officers, Sergey Cherkasov, was recently arrested in Brazil. He was using a false identity. He had gone to school at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies here in Washington, D.C., and was on his way to the ICC in The Hague when he was arrested in Brazil. The DOJ, our DOJ, has indicted him. He's been sentenced to 15 years in Brazil. And there's certainly some question about whether he would be transferred to the United States for criminal proceedings here. So, I think Putin is considering all of those things.
The Russian detainment of Gershkovich has sparked outrage from all sides of the journalism industry and political spectrum.
Gershkovich, who is an American citizen, has been accused of spying on behalf of the U.S. government. Russian state news agency TASS has reported that he was ordered to be held in custody until May 29.
Russian government's Federal Security Service claimed it arrested the journalist while he was "trying to obtain secret information" on the activities of one of "the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex."
The National Press Club has called for Gershkovich to be released immediately.
"We consider this an unjust detention and call on the State Department to designate his detention in that manner at once," National Press Club president Eileen OReilly said in a joint statement with National Press Club Journalism Institute president Gil Klein.
"Gershkovich is a journalist. He should be released immediately and unharmed and allowed to return to his important work," the National Press Club continued. "Evan has a significant and distinguished career working for the New York Times and AFP prior to the Wall Street Journal."
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Federal Communications Commission commissioner Brendan Carr tweeted, "This is wrong. This is concerning. Gershkovich’s brave journalism is no crime," and provided a link to a report penned by Gershkovich hours before his arrest headlined, "Russia's economy is starting to come undone."
Fox News’ Brian Flood, Kristine Parks, Louis Casiano and the Associated Press contributed to this report.