As the West continues to fret about possibly antagonizing Vladimir Putin, he calmly persists in an escalation of tensions between the United States and Russia.
His government's Federal Security Service has detained the Moscow-based, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, 31, in an eastern city, saying that Gershkovich, "acting on the instructions of the American side, collected information constituting a state secret about the activities of one of the enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex."
Said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova: "What an employee of the American publication The Wall Street Journal was doing in Yekaterinburg has nothing to do with journalism."
"We’re not talking about suspicions," said Putin's mouthpiece, Dmitri Peskov. "He was caught red-handed." Peskov was not talking about any evidence, either.
It should go without also saying that anything Putin's government says — especially its foreign ministry — is a boldfaced lie. Gershkovich just happened to be in the wrong place at a very wrong time.
Reports The NY Times: "Gershkovich faces up to 20 years in prison under Russia’s criminal code. Espionage trials in the country can take months and are typically conducted in secret. Acquittals are virtually unheard-of."
No reporting has yet emerged on how the Biden administration intends to respond to Putin's international act of brigandage — a spit sqaure in the face of the U.S. president.
My hope would be that the U.S. and its European allies stop nervously stewing about their own, potential escalations, realize that Putin is yet done with his, and then conduct themselves accordingly.
Putin appears to be begging for a fight. He should be accommodated.
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Update:
"The Biden administration said it was 'deeply concerned' by Mr. Gershkovich’s detention.... 'The targeting of American citizens by the Russian government is unacceptable,' Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said in a statement. 'We condemn the detention of Mr. Gershkovich in the strongest terms. We also condemn the Russian government’s continued targeting and repression of journalists and freedom of the press.'"
"Unacceptable."
If taken literally, it means it won't be accepted. But of course it will be.