A RussianFather who was convicted over antiwar comments has been arrested in a foreign country

Are words the enemy of democracy? The case of the 20-year-old Arkhangelsk student Aharonov Krivtsova

She is sure that they will be listening back in Moscow. She said that the authorities were afraid because words were the most terrible weapon at the time.

Her social media posts were neither particularly strident nor unusual, she told CNN, reflecting those of so many other university students across the country. And that, she believes, is where her troubles started: when her fellow students denounced her to authorities in need of an example.

Now in Lithuania and on Moscow’s list of most wanted criminals, the softly spoken, slight 20-year-old from Russia’s northwestern Arkhangelsk region makes for an unlikely villain. She was targeted by the Russian authorities for harsh punishment from the beginning.

Russia has significantly cracked down on free speech and opposition as its war in Ukraine has faltered. A law was adopted by the government days after Putin launched his invasion that made it a crime to spread false information about the Russian armed forces. Rules for mercenaries and volunteers in the war in the Ukrainians have recently been extended after Putin signed new laws.

Those charges relate to an Instagram story she posted about the Crimean bridge blast last October, which also criticized Russia for invading Ukraine, and for making an allegedly critical repost of the war in a student chat on the Russian social network VK.

I believe they regretted it. No one expected that the case would grow so much that the resonance would be so huge,” Krivtsova said of the Russian authorities. CNN reported in January on the charges she faced, and other international media outlets have also since covered her story.

Is it a good idea to be here? she asks from her cramped, dusty, Soviet-era apartment on the outskirts of the Lithuanian capital. “I don’t know, there are two sides to a coin. To some degree I feel I am lucky to be in Vilnius and no longer living where they wanted to put me in jail for the words I spoke.”

She took off in the middle of the night, she said, traveling for days by car to a border she had never imagined she might cross. Despite her newfound freedom,Krivtsova acknowledges that things are hard.

She said that she lost a lot and went through a lot when perched on one of the rickety chairs. My mother was teary eyed about the idea of my situation. I lost [left behind] my husband, grandfather, and grandmother. This is a huge price for anyone.”

On a more practical note, Krivtsova explained with her characteristic earnest but quiet seriousness, that she is in desperate need of a vacuum cleaner. That is just the beginning.

She is in need of a phone and clothes since she only has a backpack. She had to leave her phone behind because of her fear of being traced.

Krivtsova abandoned the electronic ankle bracelet after she was placed under house arrest. She joked that her gps, like so many other Russian hardware, didn’t function properly.

Krivtsova said that she gained a lot as she crossed the border out of Russia. Her demeanor lightened at the thought of her freedom of speech.

“I have already created another Instagram channel, in which I continue to publish posts. The Russians are committing crimes on the territory ofUkraine so my daily job is to degrade the Russian army.

The journalist, Evan Gershkovich, a correspondent based in Moscow, is believed to be the first American reporter to be held as an accused spy in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union. His detention comes as relations between Russia and the United States continue to deteriorate, with Washington leading a coalition of nations supporting Ukraine’s military defense and pushing for Moscow’s further diplomatic and economic isolation.

The Russian Federal Security Service said that Mr. Gershkovich was arrested in a city 900 miles east of Moscow on suspicion of espionage.

Mr Gershkovich was endorsed by the Kremlin hours later. “We’re not talking about suspicions,” Dmitri S. Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, said, adding, “He was caught red-handed.” Mr. Peskov could not say anything more about it.

He has worked in Moscow for The Journal since January of 2022 and has previously worked for AgenceFrance-Presse and The Moscow Times. Before that, he was a news assistant for The New York Times, based in New York.

The case of Paul Gershkovich, the deputy foreign minister of Russia, and an American marine who was arrested for espionage in February 2022

Russia has attempted to get an exchange for a Russian spy after they were found guilty of espionage. In 2019, in exchange for two convicted Russian spies in Lithuania, Moscow freed a Norwegian man who had been held for 23 months on accusations of espionage.

Since then, correspondents — including Mr. Gershkovich — had continued to receive accreditation from the Russian Foreign Ministry and had generally been able to operate freely.

There were photos and video of Mr Gershkovich leaving the court building in Moscow with a jacket hood on. He pleaded not guilty to espionage charges, the Russian state news agency Tass reported.

The detention of Brittney Griner, an American W.N.B.A. star, on a minor drug charge in February 2022 set off a monthslong negotiation between Moscow and Washington for her release, culminating in a prisoner swap that freed a Russian arms dealer from U.S. custody.

American officials pushed for the release of Paul Whelan, a former Marine sentenced to 16 years in a Russian prison for suspected espionage for the United States. His brother, David Whelan, said in a statement that he hoped the Biden administration “moves quickly and decisively” to secure the release of Mr. Whelan and Mr. Gershkovich, although he also questioned if the White House considered his brother’s case a priority.

On Thursday, the deputy foreign minister of Russia said that there was not enough time to talk about a swap with Mr. Gershkovich. “Certain exchanges that took place in the past took place for people who were already serving sentences,” Mr. Ryabkov told reporters, according to the Russian news agency Interfax, adding, “Let’s see how this story will develop.”

Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center who is based in France, said that Mr. Gershkovich’s reporting on the Russian military was what had most likely attracted the attention of the Russian security services, adding that they probably saw an opportunity to gain a new negotiating chip.

She said that his arrest will draw a lot of attention in the United States and that it will put the Kremlin in an advantage.

Mr. Peschev, the spokesman for Mr. Putin, said that the Kremlin was not planning to close the Moscow bureau. “Those that are carrying out normal journalistic activity, if they have a valid accreditation, then of course they will continue to work,” he said.

The Journal recently named a new top editor, Emma Tucker. Ms. Tucker was a deputy editor of The Times of London and involved in the case of two correspondents who were kidnapped and held in Syria. One of the journalists was shot twice in the leg and the other was beaten up before they were able to escape.