American Trevor Reed, a former marine who had been detained in Russian territory since 2019, was released in a prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia. According to senior US government officials, this will not affect the country’s approach to the war in Ukraine.
The release ends a nearly three-year ordeal for Reed, who was sentenced to nine years in prison in July 2020 for endangering the “life and health” of Russian police officers in a fight, a charge he and his family have denied.
“I’m going to try not to cry, because he doesn’t want me to cry,” the ex-Marine’s mother, Paula Reed, told Brianna Keilar of the CNNin the “New Day” this Wednesday (27).
“Obviously I’m going to cry a little, give him a big hug, and it’s going to be the four of us together again (for the first time) in a few years, so it’s going to be great.”
Reed’s release is part of a prisoner exchange by Russian citizen Konstantin Yaroshenko, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on her official Telegram channel. Yaroshenko was convicted of drug trafficking in 2011, a charge he denies, and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
“Today, we welcome Trevor Reed and celebrate his return to the family who have missed him so much. Trevor, a former US Marine, is free from Russian detention. I heard in Trevor’s parents’ voices how concerned they were about his health and I missed his presence. And I was delighted to be able to share with them the good news about freedom,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.
Paula Reed told Keilar that the family was “very grateful” for Biden’s efforts and that they spoke with the president and Trevor over the phone after he got out of prison.
In a statement, the family also thanked the press for maintaining coverage of the former Marine’s case, specifically praising ABC’s Patrick Reevell and ABC’s Jake Tapper. CNN.
health concerns
Trevor Reed’s release was the result of “months and months of painstaking and painstaking work across the U.S. government,” a senior administration official noted, noting that “conversations on this particular issue have accelerated recently to bring us to this point.” Score”.
A determining factor was the concern for the American’s health by his family, due to likely exposure to tuberculosis, as well as the lingering effects of Covid-19.
The official, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, said: “Ultimately, these negotiations led to the president having to make a very difficult decision to commute the sentence of Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian smuggler convicted of conspiring to import cocaine”.
The Russian Foreign Ministry had previously raised the possibility that Yaroshenko could be returned “in exchange for any American citizen” detained in Russia. He is a Russian pilot who was detained in Liberia by undercover US Drug Enforcement Agency agents on May 28, 2010 and taken to the US, according to Russian state news agency TASS.
Corporation agents apparently obtained evidence that Yaroshenko had criminal intent to transport a large batch of cocaine, according to TASS. He was serving his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut.
The US government official did not provide details on how or why Yaroshenko was chosen for the exchange, but noted that he served most of his sentence in the US and is now in Russian custody.
“This is a difficult call for a president. Biden did this to bring home an American whose health was a source of intense concern and fulfill his commitment to solving these difficult cases and reuniting Americans with their loved ones.”
Reed’s father previously told CNN who believed it likely that he was suffering from tuberculosis, was coughing up blood and also had a broken rib. He also claimed that the American was taken to a prison hospital but received no treatment and was sent back to solitary confinement.
When the former marine began a second hunger strike in protest at his treatment by Russian authorities, Reed’s parents went to protest outside the White House in hopes of securing a meeting with the president.
The meeting between the family and Joe Biden took place last month and lasted about half an hour.
2 Other Americans Still Detained in Russia
The release of Wednesday’s release also renewed attention to the case of American Paul Whelan, also a former marine who was detained at a Moscow hotel in December 2018 and arrested on espionage charges, which he has consistently denied. and vehement.
He was convicted and sentenced in June 2020 to 16 years in prison in a trial that US officials denounced as unfair.
In June 2021, Whelan reported to CNN the grim conditions of the remote labor camp where he works, in a squalid clothing factory, adding that getting medical care is “very difficult”.
In his statement welcoming Reed’s release, Biden said his government “won’t stop” until Whelan is home.
Meanwhile, basketball star Brittney Griner remains in detention in Russia after being arrested in February on drug smuggling charges. A Moscow court recently extended his detention until May 19, according to Russian state news agency TASS.
Although her legal team was able to meet her several times a week during her arrest, a US official at the US Embassy in Moscow finally gained consular access to Griner in late March, adding that they found her in ‘good condition’.
Ned Price, a State Department spokesman, told Jim Sciutto of CNNon Wednesday, that cases remain top US priorities.
Karl de Vries, Kate Sullivan, Veronica Stracqualursi and Khadean Coombs of CNNcontributed to this report
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m James Harper, a highly experienced and accomplished news writer for World Stock Market. I have been writing in the Politics section of the website for over five years, providing readers with up-to-date and insightful information about current events in politics. My work is widely read and respected by many industry professionals as well as laymen.
