In March 2023, Gershkovich was living in Russia and writing articles for the Journal that were critical of Russia's war on Ukraine. At the same time that he was criticizing the Russian regime, according to the Journal, he was enjoying social life in Russia, including hanging out at Moscow dive bars.

According to Wikipedia, on March 29, 2023, the Russian Federal Security Service arrested Gershkovich for having information on a "Russian defence enterprise."

U.S. officials deny that Gershkovich is a U.S. spy, but of course their denials are worthless since they would lie if Gershkovich is in fact a spy. Moreover, it is common knowledge that the CIA maintains assets within the U.S. mainstream press. (See the CIA's Operation Mockingbird.)

Journal executives also deny that Gershkovich is a spy, but of course their denials are also worthless for two reasons: (1) They too would almost certainly not confess the truth if Gershkovich is in fact a spy; and (2) If Gershkovich is a spy, it is likely that he wouldn't disclose that fact to his employer.

My own belief is that Gershkovich isn't a spy but instead is a retaliatory victim of U.S. foreign policy toward Russia. In other words, he is a classic example of how the U.S. government makes life unsafe for American citizens.

Throughout this controversy, there have been two important questions that have not been answered by Journal executives: (1) What Gershkovich was doing, if anything, at the time of his arrest that would cause Russian officials to charge him with espionage; and (2) Why the Journal didn't pull Gershkovich out of Russia when the Journal began publishing his critical articles.

By this time, the Journal has to be aware of the circumstances surrounding Gershkovich's arrest. There is little doubt that he has related those circumstances to his Russian lawyers, who would naturally have related them to Journal officials.

So, why hasn't the Journal publicized Gershkovich's side of the story? Ordinarily, that's what an innocent person does — he gets his story out to create sympathy for himself. If there wasn't anything nefarious about what Geshkovich was doing that Russian officials could point to, why not publicize that fact widely? Why keep people guessing?