As in the days of the Cold War, the United States and Russia They exchanged two prisoners this Wednesday. But, contrary to what was normal in those years, this time, it seems, neither of the two were spies: one is a former marine accused of assaulting Russian policemen while visiting that country, while the other is a drug dealer and adventurer.
The American arrested in Moscow, Trevor R. Reed, is a former military man who was convicted in Russia on charges his family always said were false. He was released after what officials from both sides described as an unexpected diplomatic breakthrough amid heightened bilateral tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Reed, initially arrested in August 2019, was released in exchange for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot sentenced to a long sentence in the United States on cocaine trafficking charges.
“Trevor, a former US Marine, is free from Russian detention,” President Joe Biden confirmed. it’s a statement. “I heard in the voices of Trevor’s parents how much they worried about his health and missed his presence. And he was delighted to be able to share the good news about Trevor’s freedom with them.”
Reed’s family had increasingly raised concerns about his health while he was detained, and footage broadcast on Russian state television on Wednesday showed what appeared to be a visibly emaciated Reed being escorted onto a Russian plane at Vnukovo airport. , in Moscow. Reed’s father, Joey, told CNN that her son had flown to Turkey, where the exchange took place.
Other Americans are still being held in Russia, including Paul Whelan, sentenced in 2020 to 16 years in prison on espionage charges during a trial that was closed to the public, and Brittney Griner, a basketball star arrested in mid-February on drug charges. which could carry a sentence of up to 10 years.
The deal involving Reed was the result of “long negotiations,” according to Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry. In her statement, President Biden did not explicitly refer to a prisoner exchange, saying that “the negotiations that allowed us to bring Trevor home required difficult decisions that he did not take lightly.”
Reed, who was born in Texas 30 years ago, traveled to Russia in May 2019 to visit his Russian girlfriend, whom he met on a dating website, and to take Russian language classes. A week before his planned return to the United States, he went to a party in a park on the outskirts of Moscow, where he drank large amounts of vodka and ended up being arrested and taken to the police station. There, an altercation reportedly broke out and Reed was charged with assaulting and endangering the lives of the two police officers who had driven him to the station.
After spending more than 11 months in a Russian jail, the Texan was sentenced to nine years in prison, the first time such a harsh punishment has been meted out for such a crime, his lawyers said. During a hearing, Reed said the case against him was political and linked his problems in Russia with his military past.
While in a jail in the russian republic of mordoviaReed was subjected to degrading treatment, including time in a solitary cell, according to his family’s statements to the CNN. His health deteriorated rapidly, according to his relatives, and he was not allowed to call home or receive books or letters, prompting him to go on a hunger strike last November.
In turn, Yaroshenko, 53, is a Russian pilot who had odd jobs in Africa. In 2010, he was arrested and accused of participating in a foiled plot to ship cocaine to Liberia and Ghana from South America. US authorities said he did so with the knowledge that some of the drugs would end up in the United States.
Yaroshenko, who had never set foot on US soil before, was, however, deported to that country, where he was tried in 2011 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
This case has been cited by Russian politicians and pro-Kremlin media as a prime example of the arbitrary use of extraterritorial powers by the United States. Russian authorities claimed that Yaroshenko had been “kidnapped” by the United States, and his family also complained of mistreatment while incarcerated in a Connecticut prison.
