“Prison in Russia failed to break me”: Evan Gershkovich, the American journalist imprisoned by Putin

By Luis Doncel (El País)

Evan Gershkovich makes no secret that he would prefer to be on the other side of the table. “Your role as interviewer is much more fun than mine,” confides this journalist who has had to get used to being at the heart of the news. His ordeal began on March 29, 2023. Then a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Moscow, he was arrested that day and accused of espionage. He spent sixteen months in prison before being released in the largest prisoner exchange between Russia and the West since the Cold War. This exchange, to which the American and German governments actively contributed, seemed straight out of a spy film.

Since then, he has had time to rebuild himself and write This Beautiful Accursed Country, a book in which he retraces his journey. The son of Russian immigrants, Gershkovich grew up in New Jersey before leaving for Russia in 2017 in search of his origins and in the hope of leading an exciting journalistic career there...