Russia and the United States have dramatically exchanged prisoners, exchanging a Marine veteran imprisoned in Moscow for a convicted Russian drug trafficker serving a long sentence in America, a senior US and Russian foreign ministry official said.
The surprise deal would have been a remarkable diplomatic maneuver even in peacetime, but it was even more extraordinary because it was over as Russia’s war with Ukraine brought relations with the United States to their lowest point in decades.
Joe Biden welcomed the release of Trevor Reed, a former Texas Marine, but said the talks that led to the prisoner exchange “required difficult decisions that I don’t take lightly.”
“Reed’s safe return is proof of the priority my administration places on the return of Americans held hostage and illegally detained abroad,” Biden said in a statement.
Reed was arrested in the summer of 2019 after Russian authorities said he attacked an officer while being driven by police to a police station after a night of heavy drinking.
Reed was later sentenced to nine years in prison, although his family claimed innocence, and the US government described him as unjustly detained.
The United States has agreed to return Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot serving a 20-year federal sentence in Connecticut for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the United States after being arrested in Liberia in 2010 and extradited to the United States.
Russia has been seeking his return for years, while rejecting requests from senior US officials to release Reed, who is approaching his 1,000th day in custody and whose health has recently deteriorated, according to his family.
A high-ranking U.S. official described Reed’s case as one of the “top priorities” for the Biden administration for reasons involving his health. The official noted that Yaroshenko, whose sentence has already been overturned, has already served most of his sentence.
Russia’s foreign ministry said Reid and Yaroshenko’s exchange was “the result of a long negotiation process”.
Although officials would not say where the transfer took place, in the hours before it happened, traces of commercial flights identified a plane belonging to Russia’s Federal Security Service flying to Ankara, the Turkish capital. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons also updated its website overnight to reflect that Yaroshenko is no longer in custody.
Reed was on his way back to the United States with Roger Cartsens, the government’s special envoy for hostages.
The prisoner exchange marks the biggest release during the Biden administration of an American deemed illegally detained abroad, and comes even when the families of detainees who have met with administration officials in the past year describe them as cool to the idea. for exchange.
In a statement, Reed’s family thanked Biden for “the decision to bring Trevor home,” as well as other government officials, and Bill Richardson, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, whom the family said had traveled to Moscow in the days before. Ukraine’s war began in hopes of securing Reid’s release.
Reed was one of several Americans known to be held by Russia, including WNBA star Britney Greener, who was detained in February after authorities said a search of her bag revealed a cannabis derivative, and chief executive of corporate security in Michigan Paul Whelan, who is detained Accusations of espionage, according to his family are false. It was unclear what Wednesday’s actions could affect their actions.
Reed’s parents had a rare private meeting with Biden and administration officials last month. They had been on the route of his motorcade for weeks during a presidential visit to Texas, hoping to attract his attention, and later demonstrated to the White House to demand a meeting.
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