ALT Evan Gershkovich is a Bowdoin College alumnus and journalist reporting truthfully and his arrest by the Russian government is an outrage. Under Vladimir Putin’s cruel rule, no vestige of freedom is safe from violence and persecution. Russian society’s continued descent into complete totalitarianism is a tragedy for the world. I fear Putin will use Evan as another pawn to extort the United States for ransom. I call on the Putin government to release Evan immediately, and also to release Paul Whelan who has now been unjustly held for over four years.