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DailyExpertNews
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Trevor Reed, a US citizen and former Marine who has been detained in Russia since 2019, has been released in a prisoner swap.
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 during an altercation. Reed and his family have denied the charges against him.
Reed’s release will not affect the US approach to the war in Ukraine, senior government officials said.
His release comes after months of efforts by the US government, officials said, and was particularly urgent given Reed’s health concerns. It was eventually secured through a prisoner exchange for Russian citizen Konstantin Yaroshenko.
The exchange took place in Turkey on Wednesday, Trevor’s parents, Joey and Paula Reed, told DailyExpertNews. The couple spoke to their son shortly after he was on his way home.
“Trevor quickly told us that she – the American plane stopped next to the Russian plane, and they walked across with both prisoners at the same time, like you see in the movies,” Joey Reed said on DailyExpertNews’s “New Day.”
The Reeds also said they spoke to President Joe Biden on Wednesday and expressed their gratitude.
“I heard in the voices of Trevor’s parents how much they were concerned about his health and missing his presence,” Biden said in a statement. “And I was delighted to be able to share the good news of Trevor’s freedom with them.”
Asked by DailyExpertNews’s Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday whether he was surprised by Reed’s release given Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Biden said, “I did it.” The president insisted on how, continued, “I raised it,” adding: “Three months ago.”
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told Collins earlier Wednesday that the president was waiting to notify the Reed family of their son’s freedom because he “wanted to put “nobody in a position to jeopardize that — even people who are excited and happy and looking ahead. to the news.”
Pressed on whether Russia was able to extract terms from the US other than a one-to-one prisoner swap, Psaki told DailyExpertNews, “There were no other terms I know of,” later adding, “This was about one matter and subject and I don’t think we need to go into it further.”
Reed’s release was the culmination of “months and months of hard and diligent work within the US government” on the issue, a senior government official said, noting that “talks on this particular topic have recently accelerated to get us to this point.” to get.”
One driving factor was concerns about Reed’s health. His family has been concerned about his likely exposure to tuberculosis and the lingering effects of having Covid-19.
The official, who spoke to reporters on a background call on Wednesday, said that “ultimately, those negotiations resulted in the president having to make a very difficult decision with a decision to extend the sentence of Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian smuggler convicted of conspiracy to sell cocaine.” to import, convert.” †
Yaroshenko is a Russian pilot who was detained in Liberia on May 28, 2010 by US Drug Enforcement Agency undercover agents and transferred to the US, according to Russia’s state news agency TASS. He was convicted of drug smuggling in 2011 and sentenced to 20 years in prison, which he served at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut. He has denied the charges against him.
The Russian Foreign Ministry had previously raised the possibility that Yaroshenko could be returned “in exchange for a US citizen” held in Russia.
The official did not provide details on how or why Yaroshenko was chosen for the swap, but noted that he had served most of his US sentence and is now in Russian custody.
“This is a tough job for a president. President Biden has made it home to an American whose health was a major concern, and to keep his promise to solve these difficult cases and Americans reunite with their loved ones,” the official said.
Reed is now on his way back to his family in the United States.
“I’m going to try not to cry because he doesn’t want me to cry,” Reed’s mother, Paula, told DailyExpertNews’s Brianna Keilar on “New Day” on Wednesday. “Of course I’m going to cry a little, give him a big hug, and just, you know, give him hugs, and in a few years we’ll be together again (for the first time), so it’s will be awesome.”
Reed’s father previously told DailyExpertNews that he thought it was likely that Reed was suffering from tuberculosis, that he was coughing up blood and also had a broken rib. He said Reed went to a prison hospital but received no treatment and was then sent back to solitary confinement.
When Reed went on a second hunger strike to protest his treatment by Russian authorities, Reed’s parents protested outside the White House in hopes of meeting the president.
The Reeds finally met the president for about half an hour last month at the White House.
Wednesday’s release also brought renewed attention to the case of American Paul Whelan, a US citizen and former Marine who was detained in a Moscow hotel in December 2018 and arrested on charges of espionage, which he has consistently and vehemently denied. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison in June 2020 in a trial labeled as unfair by US officials.
Last June, he told DailyExpertNews about the grim conditions in the remote labor camp where he works at a garment factory he called a “sweatshop” and said getting medical care is “very difficult.”
In his statement welcoming Reed’s release, Biden said his administration “will not stop” until Whelan gets home.
The Whelan family welcomed Reed’s release, but said it was a day of “different emotions” and questions for them.
“Unfortunately, time is not on Paul’s side. Our parents are literally not getting any younger. Our hope remains that Paul will be home so they can see him again. But every day that hope is fading,” his brother David Whelan said in a statement on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, American basketball star Brittney Griner remains detained in Russia after she was arrested in February on drug smuggling charges. A Moscow court recently extended her detention until May 19, Russia’s state news agency TASS reported.
While her legal team has been able to access and see her several times a week during her detention, a US official from the US embassy in Moscow was finally granted consular access to Griner in late March, saying they found her to be in good condition. .”
Ned Price, a State Department spokesman, told DailyExpertNews’s Jim Sciutto on Wednesday that matters remain top priorities for the US.
Psaki echoed Price’s sentiment, saying on Wednesday the White House will “continue to do everything” to secure the release of Whelan, Griner and other Americans still detained in Russia.
This story has been updated with additional background information and response.
