// BBC WORLD NEWS — MONDO
'I was lured into a trap': Evan Gershkovich on moment that led to 16 months in Russian jail
Watch: Evan Gershkovich describes the moment he was detained by masked men
US journalist Evan Gershkovich has said that he knew he was being set up by Russia when he was arrested by FSB agents and accused of being a spy.
In an interview with Radio 4's Today programme, Gershkovich spoke about the moment he realised he had been "lured into a trap" when masked men surrounded him at a restaurant in 2023, and detained him.
"I'm not interrogated, I'm not tortured… I'm accused of espionage," he said, describing a sense of relief: "They've set me up and fabricated this case so that I can be a valuable hostage - a pawn in a greater game".
Gershkovich, now 34, was sentenced to 16 years in prison, but freed 16 months later as part of a high-profile prisoner swap deal.
Gershkovich had been living in Russia since 2017, and was the Wall Street Journal's foreign correspondent in Moscow when he was arrested - he is now based in Berlin, Germany. He and his employer have always maintained that the charges were false.
On the day he was arrested, Gershkovich was in Yekaterinburg - about 1,600km (1,000 miles) east of Moscow - meeting someone who he thought was a source for a story.
They were sitting in a half-empty dining hall "and a group of about half-dozen masked men marched in and said 'I think we booked that table'." An odd phrase, Gershkovich said, but on reflection it is clever because it "freezes you in place".
The two men stood up and Gershkovich was told he was under arrest by the notorious and powerful FSB, Russia's domestic security service.
"It's at that moment that you realise it's something really serious… When it's the FSB, you know it's been planned."