Vladimir Putin widened the definition of espionage in 2012 so that professional activities like reporting and others could be considered as spying.

One of Russia's most popular newspapers, Komsomolskaya Pravda, ran no less than twenty articles about Evan Gershkovich, the American journalist detained in Moscow on suspicion of Espionage, over the period of a few days. One of the headlines read, "The FSB Has Nabbed a Wall Street Journal Reporter: He was Collecting Information on Russian Military Industry." "An Ideal American Spy: What Doesn't Add Up in the Career of Evan Gershkovich" was the headline of another article. The information provided in this article made each of Gershkovich's traits seem malevolent or at the very least questionable. Since he majored in philosophy rather than journalism at Bowdoin, the publication inferred that he is not a true journalist. He worked for an environmental NGO in Asia in the year following graduation; this must have been a cover for an intelligence agency. He participated in soccer both in high school and college, which indicated that he is physically strong, making him a sought-after candidate for a spy outlet. He seemed to grow in his career far too quickly. He has a website where he lists the newspapers for which he has written but provides no biographical information; the piece poses the question, "Did he have something to hide?" In 2019, he traveled to Tallinn with the pretense of researching a political story on Estonia. "Was he meeting his handlers from the Center? We'll wait and see what the investigators have to say.

The everyday aspects of a young American man's life—indeed, routine journalistic activity—are reframed as proof of espionage. It might be considered evidence under Russian law. Russia expanded the concept of espionage so that reporting and other professional activity may be seen as spying in 2012 when Vladimir Putin cracked down after widespread protests. Contrary to popular belief and common sense, "espionage" in Russia does not necessarily mean working for a foreign intelligence agency or even a foreign government. According to the definition from 2012, espionage can also include gathering information for any foreign organization that the Russian government deems to be a threat to national security.

The F.S.B., the K.G.B.'s successor organization, asserts that Gershkovich was gathering classified information, but under Russian law, it is possible to be charged with espionage for using information that is already in the public domain; on the other hand, simply obtaining information without disclosing it to anyone else is also punishable by law. Finally, the prosecution is not required by law to establish intent. The F.S.B. claimed that the prior rule had been overly restrictive at the time it was revised and that "lack of proof of 'hostile' intent was used by defense as an argument to release the Accused and defendants from criminal responsibility."

Numerous Russians have been accused of high treason using the wide-ranging law. (the charge when acts of ostensible espionage are performed by a Russian citizen). It has been particularly challenging for human rights campaigners to keep track of cases because those accused of espionage or high treason are typically tried in a secret court and their cases are frequently classified. Academics accused of common international collaboration appear to have made up at least part of the high treason defendants. Ordinary persons without security clearance who alerted others about the movement of forces they had seen during the Russian invasions of Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014 fall under the category of people charged with high treason.

The statute was used to jail Russian journalist Ivan Safronov, 32, last September. Safronov, a journalist who covered the Russian military, was tried and found guilty in large part because of his reporting, according to Russian human-rights groups and journalists. He is currently serving a 22-year sentence. A month after Safronov was given his punishment, Russian authorities charged writer and politician Vladimir Kara-Murza with high treason. Kara-Murza had first been detained for "discrediting the Russian armed forces," a less serious crime. According to Human Rights Watch, Kara-Murza is the first individual to have been accused of high treason for opposing the conflict in Ukraine.

The first foreign journalist to face charges under the espionage and high treason laws is Gershkovich. He seems to be handled exactly like the Russians who have been accused of the same crimes. His arrest hearing was held behind closed doors. According to reports, Gershkovich's attorney was not permitted to participate or even enter the courtroom. Instead, a state-appointed lawyer was in charge of defending Gershkovich. In Russian courts, which appear to convict almost everyone who appears before them, defense lawyers have little influence over the outcome, but they do give defendants a means of communication with the outside world. Access to the American consulate has so far been denied Gershkovich as well. Gershkovich's attorneys were finally allowed to see him on Tuesday and reported that he was in good health.

 When the F.S.B. and the Russian government first changed the legislation ten years ago, allowing nearly anyone to be accused of engaging in any kind of espionage, they produced a judicial tool of terror. Untold numbers of people were imprisoned or put to death during Stalin's regime after being accused of espionage or high treason. (At the time, the legislation itself was arguably less ambiguous and broad than it is now, but that didn't stop the prosecutors; no defense attorneys were involved). Foreigners who had moved to the Soviet Union and Soviet residents alike were terrified by Article 58 of the Criminal Code, which rendered espionage, treason, and other types of "anti-Soviet agitation" criminal; nevertheless, accredited foreign journalists were reportedly exempt from its reach. The expulsion was typically the largest threat they faced. They had to adhere to a stringent set of restrictions if they wanted to stay in the nation. They were only permitted to leave Moscow for official outings. With Soviet inhabitants, they hardly had any communication. They were being watched all the time. They also had to present the Soviet censor with all of their work.