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Dramatic footage shows freed Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan's brutal arrest by Russia's FSB: WATCH
Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was recently released from Russian prison, was violently put in a headlock during his arrest in 2023.
Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was recently released from Russian prison following a historic Russia-West exchange since the Cold War, was violently put in a headlock and forced to the ground during his last year's arrest.
In a newly-released video of his arrest, the Federal Security Service's (FSB) intelligence officers can be seen arresting Gershkovich on espionage charges in March 2023.
Russia's RT TV channel released the footage of his brutal arrest, showing an unaware Gershkovich seated in a secretly bugged Yekaterinburg restaurant for a source meeting when the agents barged in.
The footage shows Gershkovich talking with the informant about the story he was working on just before his arrest.
“The only thing I ask you, please, be very careful because this is classified information,” the insider stated in the audio recording released by the Russian outlet.
The WSJ reporter reportedly told the source: “We won't write that we have even seen the documents,” and ensured that he would attribute anything to an “anonymous source.”
The journalist, who was based in Moscow and was covering the Wagner mercenary group at the time, was ultimately taken into custody on espionage allegations.
Gershkovich was given 16-yr prison sentence in Russia
Subsequently, the FSB charged Gershkovich with gathering intelligence for the CIA, levelling the first allegation of spying on a US journalist since the end of the Cold War. He was found guilty and given a 16-year prison sentence.
However, Gershkovich, the US government, and his employer strongly rejected all the accusations.
The video of his apprehension surfaced a few days after Gershkovich, 32, made his first official return to the United States last Thursday after spending 16 months in jail.
Paul Whelan's arrest video released
Meanwhile, the footage of FSB's arrest of Paul Whelan was also released. Whelan, the former US Marine who spent over five years in Russian prison on charges of espionage, also arrived in the US last week, along with other prisoners.
After touching down at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, they all were greeted by US President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and then reunited with their loved ones.
