False Narratives Mislead the Public on Jailed Journalists in Russia

Of the many savvy media lies about Russia, the murky cases of Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva are exceptional in their dishonesty and deception. The goal is to incite more hatred of Russia.

Liar-in-Chief: support for a murky WSJ reporter, but he wants Assange jailed

Nearly every White House and U.S. media narrative about Russia is false, despicable and nauseating, but late last month the issue was particularly unbearable. For ten days U.S. media wallowed in meticulously scripted coverage to mark one-year behind bars of Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich (EG).

The tsunami of U.S. media reports was carefully calculated to be emotionally charged, while avoiding serious discussions about the facts. Over and over again, U.S. officials and media hacks repeated the mantra that “journalism is not a crime.” (Why don’t they apply that concept to Julian Assange). Several hysterical White House officials even called EG a “hostage”.

Never once did anyone address the main questions — What exactly was EG doing in a city that’s a major center of Russia’s defense industry? Who was he meeting, and what information was he trying to obtain? Who sent him there? Why take the risk?

The White House and the WSJ, however, won’t answer these questions. I reached out to the WSJ, but the newspaper never responded. What is the WSJ hiding?

Here’s what we know. On March 29, 2023, EG was arrested in Ekaterinburg by Russian security services who said he was caught red-handed obtaining information about a vital defense factory. No more details were given. The WSJ, the White House and EG’s family deny the charges. Should we believe them? No.

While I was in Moscow last month, I tried to find out what really happened. I caught up with journalists who know EG. Guess what — they all said the same thing. EG was indeed illegally gathering information about a Russian defense factory; he was not on a press tour or organized interview. EG acted clandestinely — much like a spy — to meet someone he trusted as a source.

The WSJ’s bizarre PR stunt to support EG’s cause

Let’s remember the context — EG is a citizen of the U.S., which actively wages war against Russia, murdering innocent people in horrific terror bombings (Belgorod, Donetsk, etc), as well as involved in terrorist attacks such as the Nord-Stream pipeline blast and the Crocus City massacre. You’d think EG would have the common sense to tread carefully in Russia, right? He’s either exceptionally reckless and stupid, or he knows that someone very powerful has his back — perhaps a certain Uncle Sam?

My next question — What did senior WSJ editors know, and did they agree to EG’s risky and dangerous assignment? My sources say they signed off on it, fully aware of the consequences. So, my next question is: Why go ahead with the assignment knowing that it would endanger EG? Well, perhaps that was the goal…

I’m starting to wonder if EG was a pawn, set up by his handlers who knew that his certain arrest would be a propaganda bonanza for the White House. Look at the current Russophobic media circus fueled by EG’s arrest, further inciting the American people against Russia; this time making it personal. “How dare Putin arrest such a nice looking All-American boy!”

Either this incident was the result of EG’s stupidity (quite probable), or someone is using the reckless young journalist to pull off a dastardly propaganda gambit (highly probable). Don’t put it past those who wield power in Washington — they have no qualms about sacrificing anyone, even their own, in their contemptible plans.

EG’s imprisonment now offers Biden a grand opportunity to be the one who brought home an ‘American hero’ from ‘Putin’s dungeon’. Imagine the media circus — Biden welcomes EG at the White House as a champion of press freedoms. Weeks, even months, of interviews and photo ops ensue. The servile media will sing Biden’s praise as a leader who bested Putin, whipping up national pride. What a triumphant moment, a ‘victory’ over Putin just in time for November’s election.

"President Biden spoke to us and gave us a promise to do whatever it takes [to bring Evan home]," Ella Milman, EG’s mother, told "Good Morning America" in July 2023. Now, the White House is waiting for the right moment to make that happen, just a little closer to the elections.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the White House would trade EG for as many as several Russians languishing in our prisons. His value for the White House is huge. But will the Kremlin want to hand Biden a victory? I expect not, and so the White House’s plan could come to naught. EG could languish in prison for years, an expendable pawn.

Alsu Kurmasheva serves those who bomb Russian children

A Russian journalist in the pay of Uncle Sam

Then there’s the peculiar case of Alsu Kurmasheva (AK), a Russian citizen who acquired a U.S. passport. Described in U.S. media as a “journalist”, I can only find mention that she’s an “editor” at the obscure Tatar-Bashkir service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. I can’t find any articles that she might have penned.

That Tatar-Bashkir service describes itself as “the only major international news provider reporting in the Tatar and Bashkir languages to audiences” in Russia’s “multiethnic, Muslim-majority Volga-Ural region.” Despite boasting a large geographic range, the Tatar-Bashkir service has a very small audience.

Roughly translated, the above paragraph means that RFE/RL is a U.S. government-funded propaganda outlet that seeks to undermine and weaken Russia by inciting ethnic hatred and discontent. (Disclaimer: I occasionally contributed to RFE/RL as a freelancer when living in St. Petersburg).

Unlike EG, AK has never been a notable person. (I’m not trying to be nasty, just stating a fact). The U.S. media and American people have no reason to be concerned about this previously unknown woman who betrays her Motherland. But for some reason, AK’s plight is now a U.S. media sensation, another ‘hero’ for press freedom. (Again, tell that to Julian Assange).

Here’s what RFE/RL claims — “Alsu traveled to Russia on May 20, 2023, to care for her elderly, ailing mother. She was temporarily detained while waiting for her return flight on June 2, 2023. Authorities at Kazan airport confiscated her U.S. and Russian passports, preventing her from leaving the country. She was subsequently fined 10,000 rubles ($103) for failure to register her U.S. passport with Russian authorities. Before she could pay the fine, Alsu was detained again on October 18, 2023, for failing to declare herself a ‘foreign agent.’ On December 11, 2023, Russian authorities launched a third investigation against Alsu for violating military censorship laws. If convicted, she could face up to 15 years in prison.” 

Let’s put the above into context — AK works for a notorious propaganda machine that was specifically set up by the U.S. government to wage ‘information war’ on the Russian state and its people. AK embraces those who bomb Russian cities, terrorize its people, and commit heinous war crimes in Donbass and elsewhere. She deserves no sympathy. None. Since she’s still a Russian citizen, AK’s work is indeed treasonous, and acting as a “foreign agent.”

Pavel Butorin — over 20 years on Uncle Sam’s payroll as a ‘journalist’

AK’s husband, Pavel Butorin, also a ‘journalist’ at RFE/RL, naively believes that “the U.S. government and free speech advocates care about Alsu and will fight for her release. She’s done nothing wrong and is only being held because she’s an American.”

In an effort to free his wife, Butorin has enlisted the support of some of the most odious people in Washington, such as Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) a notorious war-monger who is close to Nancy Pelosi and who spreads disinformation about Russia and Donbass.

How sinister that AK and Butorin invoke freedom and human rights to justify their actions. They align themselves with the extreme liberal globalist wing of the U.S. government that has inflicted so much horror and suffering across the globe over the past 30 years — leaving millions dead and tens of millions homeless as refugees.

Both AK and Butorin have long served the U.S. propaganda machine, paid well for their labor, but is there any chance that somewhere in their morally bankrupt, vain minds that they have even the slightest pangs of guilt and conscience?

I wonder what AK and Butorin think of the thousands of innocent Russians killed and injured in Donbass and the Belgorod region. I can’t find any evidence that they ever condemned Biden for his murderous policies towards Russia.

Why do some Russians hate their own people so much — is it a self-loathing psychiatric condition, or maybe an inferiority complex, or simply greed and a desire to feel special when Uncle Sam offers you a profitable, cushy but pointless career?

Post Scriptum: Does the CIA still use journalists?

According to a 2003 report by Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press: “Media manipulation by the CIA and FBI came to the forefront of public attention with the admission of the practices by Congressional intelligence committees in early 1976. Reports issued by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, known as the Church Committee after Chairman Frank Church (D-Idaho), outlined CIA and FBI practices that regularly used journalists for their own means. The CIA adopted regulations in 1977 that barred the practice of using journalists, all the while neglecting to publicize a loophole that would allow the agency to use journalists under extraordinary circumstances with the ‘specific approval’ of the CIA director.”

I wonder if the dangerous and risky work of Evan Gershkovich received such “specific approval” from the CIA director. The Wall Street Journal needs to come clean about what exactly EG was doing in Ekaterinburg and who approved his assignment.