Russian President Vladimir Putin personally approved the arrest of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, according to those in the know. The move reflects a growing influence of Kremlin hardliners who are pushing to deepen the divide with Washington that is viewed as irreversible.

This tracks with a clear-eyed analysis of Putin’s reign in Russia. He controls with an iron fist and it is illogical to think that police forces would arrest an American journalist for the first time in 40 years on espionage charges without Putin approving the action. US-Russian ties are at a new low since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Putin is exerting a show of power and indicating he has no interest in maintaining a stable relationship with the United States and other Western countries.

Putin invaded Ukraine, allegedly, to stop Ukraine from joining NATO. He is convinced that NATO is a threat to Russia, determined to destroy Russia. The war crimes warrant issued against Putin last month by the International Criminal Court only strengthens the Kremlin’s sense that there is no room to back down. Russian leaders expect the war in Ukraine to last for years.

The Kremlin denies any plans to increase the mobilization of military forces.

Parliament this week rushed through a sharp toughening of penalties for those who seek to avoid military service. The changes create a new online system to deliver call-up notices and ban those who ignore them from leaving the country, closing loopholes many had used to avoid the draft. The measure, expected to be signed into law soon by Putin, has fueled fears a new mobilization may come later this year. The Kremlin says there are currently no such plans. Last year’s call-up of 300,000 reservists triggered the exodus of as many as a million Russians.

It is being reported that the arrest of Gershkovich was approved by top officials of Russia’s security service. A Kremlin spokesman denied it was Putin’s decision but “the total prerogative of the special services. They were doing their job.” The security service reports directly to Putin.

Evan is being held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison. So far he has not been granted U.S. consular access. Though the Kremlin claims it caught him “red-handed”, no evidence has been provided. The Wall Street Journal and the Biden administration deny the spying charges.

Lefortovo prison is a “psychologically” torturous place, according to Russian journalist Andrei Soldatov. Detention creates psychological pressure on prisoners. It is the same prison another American, Paul Whelan, was first brought to when he was arrested on spying charges. The State Department is also asking for the release of Whelan. Soldatov fled the country in 2020. He was repeatedly interrogated at the prison. “It’s a very unpleasant experience because now he’s completely alone,” Andrei Soldatov told Fox News Digital on Monday. The prison was the site of many of the executions during the Great Purge under Joseph Stalin’s rule.

The rooms there are designed to give the prisoners a sense of total isolation, even from one another. Prisoners in Lefortovo are prevented from seeing the outside world, other than the sky through a small window.

“Psychologically it’s very difficult,” Soldatov said. “The history of this particular prison, many, many people were killed in the 1930s and 1940s during Stalin’s purges, so this kind of thing creates a huge psychological pressure on you, and it doesn’t help that Evan was so into Russian culture and Russian history, so maybe it would be better for someone who isn’t familiar with it.”

Soldatov, a thorn in Russia’s side for decades with his coverage of its secret services, recounted his experiences being interrogated at the prison for his coverage over the years, beginning in 2002. He said officials tried to catch him admitting he was revealing state secrets, with the method of repeatedly asking him “stupid” questions about his reporting in an effort to provoke him. At one point, he said, his attorney physically pushed him when he almost said something the government could have considered incriminating. He was never physically abused but still called the seven-hour sessions torturous.

“They torture you the way they ask questions… always trying to reformulate what you are telling them. You need to be constantly vigilant,” he said.

Putin is a holdover from the Cold War era. He was a KGB official and it’s important to remember his history. This is exactly something he would approve of. Psychological torture is his wheelhouse.

The State Department has declared Evan is being “wrongfully detained.” This gives the Biden administration additional resources to work on Evan’s release and return home. The administration can negotiate on his behalf.

The Kremlin may be expecting a prisoner swap. In past swaps, Russia has pushed for Vladislav Klyushin, a Kremlin insider, to be included in a swap. That hasn’t happened yet and the Kremlin may hold out for him this time. He has information on the hacking of the DNC servers during the 2016 presidential election.

Biden spoke with Evan’s family on April 11. He assured them that the government will do everything it can to bring Evan home as quickly as possible.

The Biden administration uses prisoner swaps to secure the release of American citizens overseas. That is a dangerous method to use, though, because it encourages more hostage-taking by bad actors. This case has received a lot of attention in the press because he is one of them. The Biden administration had no choice but to jump in and now to negotiate for Evan. Evan received the “wrongfully detained” determination in record time before he had a consular visit in prison. Another prisoner swap encourages Russia to grab more Americans in the country, thus putting any American in jeopardy.