Bloomberg: Putin personally approved arrest of Gershkovich

Evan Gershkovich

Russian President Vladimir Putin personally approved the arrest of a U.S. reporter on espionage charges for the first time since the Cold War, Bloomberg News is reporting.

The Bloomberg story states, “The Russian president’s endorsement of the move reflects the growing influence of Kremlin hardliners who push for deepening a confrontation with Washington they view as irreversible, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss matters that aren’t public.

“The detention of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich on March 29 triggered angry denunciations from the US and its allies, marking yet another low in US-Russian ties, which have spiraled since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine last year.

“‘This should be a real wake-up call, not just to the US, but the broader West,’ said Alina Polyakova, president of the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington. ‘It’s signaling that in Putin’s mindset that there’s no going back to a stable and reliable relationship.'”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.