Trevor Reed, the former Marine who’s been in Russian custody since 2019, is returning to the U.S. after American and Russian officials successfully negotiated a prisoner swap. Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot convicted in Connecticut in 2010 of international drug trafficking, is headed back to Russia.
“Trevor, a former U.S. Marine, is free from Russian detention,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “I heard in the voices of Trevor’s parents how much they’ve worried about his health and missed his presence. And I was delighted to be able to share with them the good news about Trevor’s freedom.”
In a statement, Reed’s family said their “prayers have been answered and Trevor is safely on his way back to the United States.” They credited Biden, saying his actions “may have saved Trevor’s life.”
Now the family will focus on “the myriad of health issues brought on by the squalid conditions he was subjected to in his Russian gulag.”
The New York Times provides key background:
A native of Texas, Mr. Reed traveled to Russia in May 2019 to visit his Russian girlfriend, whom he had met on a dating website, and to take language lessons. One week before his planned return to the United States, Mr. Reed went to a party at a park outside Moscow, where he drank extensive amounts of vodka.
Mr. Reed got agitated, prompting his girlfriend and friends to call the police. Officers who arrived at the scene decided to take him to the station, where Mr. Reed was interviewed by Russian security agents. Shortly after, he was accused of assaulting and endangering the lives of the two police officers who had driven him there.
After spending more than 11 months in a Russian jail, Mr. Reed was sentenced to nine years in prison, the first time that such a severe punishment had been applied for that type of crime, his lawyers said. At one point during a hearing, Mr. Reed said that the case against him was political and linked his troubles in Russia to his military affiliation.
CBS News reports on the negotiations that culminated in the swap:
The president said the negotiations “required difficult decisions” that he did “not take lightly,” and he vowed that his administration would keep working to get another former U.S. Marine, Paul Whelan, and professional basketball player Brittney Griner out of Russian prisons, too.
Whelan has been jailed since 2018, serving a 16-year sentence on espionage charges that the U.S. and his family say are fabricated. Griner has been held in Russia since mid-February on drug charges.
