Trevor Reed.Photo: ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images
A former U.S. Marine held in Russia for nearly three years has been released, the White House announced Wednesday, with Russia’s Foreign Ministry saying his freedom was granted as part of a prisoner swap.
American Trevor Reed had been detained in Russia since August 2019 and in 2020 wassentenced to nine yearsin prison for endangering the “life and health” of Russian police officers after a night of drinking — charges Reed has denied and which U.S. Ambassador John Sullivan called “preposterous.”
Reed was freed in exchange for Russian citizen Konstantin Yaroshenko, the spokesperson for Russia’s Foreign Ministry said onTelegram.
Reutersreports thatYaroshenko was a pilot who was serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted of drug smuggling in 2011. He has denied the allegations against him.
Reed’s situation had grown more dire in recent weeks, due to health issues, at the same time that Russia has become entangled in a widely denounced invasion of Ukraine.
In February, a U.S. Embassy spokespersonwrote on Twitterthat Reed had “prolonged exposure to another prisoner with active tuberculosis. Trevor now reports he is coughing up blood and has not received medical care for it.”
The embassy urged Russia then to “give Trevor proper medical treatment; better yet, release him.”
Speakingwith CNN in a story publishedafter the phone call, Reed’s mom, Paula, told the network that Biden said he “thinks of Trevor every day and that he feels horrible that he hasn’t been able to bring Trevor home yet. And he said, ‘We’re not going to stop.’ "
“He said it was like a movie — they walked past each other like in a spy swap,” Joey told ABC News. “Our understanding is the next time Trevor steps off the plane he will be in America.”
Joey (left), Paula Reed.LM Otero/AP/Shutterstock
In a statement issued Wednesday morning, Biden, 79, said Reed was now “free from Russian detention.”
In his own statement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said his agency welcomed Reed’s release and would continue to push for the release of AmericanPaul Whelan, who was arrested on espionage charges in Russia in 2018. Blinken said Whelan was “wrongfully detained.”
“We also remain committed to securing the freedom of all U.S. nationals wrongfully detained abroad,” Blinken said.
He echoed those concerns in his statement about Reed’s release, saying: “[Reed’s] safe return is a testament to the priority my Administration places on bringing home Americans held hostage and wrongfully detained abroad. We won’t stop until Paul Whelan and others join Trevor in the loving arms of family and friends.”
source: people.com
