Putin using WSJ reporter to push narrative US is trying to 'destabilize' Russia, experts say

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Why Putin likely arrested WSJ reporter

Former CIA station chief Dan Hoffman says Evan Gershkovich was likely detained because Vladimir Putin ‘does not like the free press,’ wants to ‘ignite’ an ‘anti-West’ hysteria in Russia and might want to make a trade.

There is motivation by Russian President Vladimir Putin to push a narrative among his people that the U.S. government is trying to "destabilize" their country with espionage, a major factor in the arrest of a Wall Street Journal reporter, experts tell Fox News Digital.

On Thursday, the Russian government's Federal Security Service arrested WSJ's Evan Gershkovich, an America-born citizen, leveling spying allegations against him. 

Former CIA station chief and Fox News contributor Daniel Hoffman said among the real reasons why Gershkovich was arrested was that Putin wanted to fuel "anti-West hysteria" in Russia.

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Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service. (Wall Street Journal/Screenshot)

"He wants his own people to think that the West, the United States in particular, is just trying to launch spy operations. And he wants his people to be really focused on making sure that they stop that," Hoffman told Fox News Digital. "And that whatever is going on in Ukraine that's not working right, it's because of, you know, Western spying. They're there. They're everywhere. They're spying on us… He wants to make this a war between Russia and the West. And that's how he does it."

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Rebekah Koffler, a former Defense Intelligence Agency officer and author of "Putin's Playbook: Russia's Secret Plan to Defeat America," has been monitoring Russian-state media since Gershkovich's arrest and has been telling the Russian people that he was "caught red-handed" and it is "positioning" him like Paul Whelan, the American citizen who has been in Russian custody since 2018 for similar spying claims. 

"The messaging is that Americans-they're out here infiltrating Russia, trying to basically destabilize the country, which is seen as Putin's propaganda as he's waging this war," Koffler said. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to push a narrative on his people that the U.S. is trying to "destablize" their country, experts told Fox News Digital.  (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Koffler told Fox News Digital that Russian propaganda is "very sophisticated" by "seemingly stating the facts" regarding Gershkovich's arrest rather than blatantly telling Russian audiences that the U.S. is trying to destabilize their country, which she said is "how they are trying to influence the perception of an average Russian."

And unfortunately, the Russians are believing it as fact. 

"There are very few people who don't believe it," Koffler said. "Putin's approval rating right now is 79%, which means like about one-fifth of the Russian population is not on board with his program… So most people believe it.

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Experts who spoke with Fox News Digital are confident that any release of Gershkovich will be due to a trade between the U.S. and Russia.

"Anybody who says anything nice about Vladimir Putin ought to be thinking twice. This is what he does," Hoffman said. "You know, this is how he treats [the] innocent."

"[Russia knows] that we're very sensitive to individuals lives. U.S. culture is like every life matters… it's typical Putin's playbook-hostage diplomacy," Koffler said. "Russia has perfected it in a form of statecraft. Why do they do it? It's because we have taught them that it works."