Evan Gershkovich has since 2017 worked as a journalist in Russia for newspapers such as AFP, The Moscow Times, and The Wall Street Journal. His arrest is the first by an American journalist in Russia, accused of espionage since the Cold War.
Foreign reporter Bert Sundström, who has previously been a correspondent in Russia, comments on the arrest.
"This is a signal to the outside world and perhaps also to foreign journalists. Evan Gershkovich is probably a serious journalist that Russia thinks it needs to get out of the way – or they act like this in order to use him in some kind of exchange of imprisoned spies in the West.
"Sometimes journalists are thrown out of the country, but for a journalist to be arrested and also accused of a serious crime is very unique.
Many are forced to flee
As a consequence of the changing media climate in Russia, hundreds of Russian journalists have had to leave the country over the past year, but also foreign newsrooms such as the BBC and Deutsche Welle have chosen to move their editorial offices out of the country.
According to Bert Sundström, it has become increasingly difficult for foreign journalists to work in Russia since the war began.
"Journalists are restricted in their work and many have been forced to flee. Over the past year, it has also become increasingly difficult to conduct interviews with people who are on the side of those in power. You also see how those who are critical of the regime do not dare to express their opinions.
The editor-in-chief of the now banned Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, Dimirtiy Muratov, believes that there is a recurring pattern in how the Putin regime treats journalists in Russia.
"The regime sees journalists as enemies of the nation – both domestic and foreign journalists.
Evan Gershkovich faces 20 years in Russian prison.