WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) – U.S. ex-Marine Trevor Reed arrived again in the US, his spokesperson mentioned on Thursday, after being freed by Russia in a prisoner swap that came about amid essentially the most tense bilateral relations in many years over the battle in Ukraine.
Reed was launched on Wednesday in alternate for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko.
The swap was not a part of broader diplomatic talks and didn’t characterize an American change in method on Ukraine, U.S. officers mentioned. Russian-American ties have been at their worst because the Chilly Battle period following Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine and subsequent Western sanctions imposed on Moscow.
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Reed, from Texas, was again in the US, his spokesperson mentioned, with out instantly confirming the place he entered the nation.
His mother and father mentioned earlier he could be taken to a army hospital for monitoring. Senior U.S. officers say the 30-year-old was in “good spirits.”
“In the present day, we welcome residence Trevor Reed and have fun his return to the household that missed him dearly,” President Joe Biden mentioned in an announcement previous to Reed’s arrival, noting the mother and father’ considerations about their son’s well being.
“The negotiations that allowed us to deliver Trevor residence required troublesome selections that I don’t take evenly,” Biden added.
Requested in a while Wednesday how he was capable of increase the problem of Reed’s detention amid the broader tensions with Russia over Ukraine, Biden mentioned, “I did it. I raised it. I raised it three months in the past.”
Reed was convicted in Russia in 2019 of endangering the lives of two cops whereas drunk on a go to to Moscow. The US referred to as his trial a “theater of the absurd.”
U.S. officers mentioned Biden commuted the sentence of Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot who was arrested by American particular forces in Liberia in 2010 and convicted for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the US. Russia had proposed a prisoner swap for Yaroshenko in July 2019 in alternate for the discharge of any American.
The swap occurred in Turkey, and the US thanked Turkey, a NATO ally, for its assist in the alternate. Russian information businesses reported that Yaroshenko then flew from Ankara to Sochi and eventually to Moscow. Rossiya 1, Russia’s fundamental nationwide information channel, confirmed video of Yaroshenko’s being embraced by his spouse and his daughter, who was leaping up and down with pleasure, on the tarmac at a Moscow airport.
Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned they have been working to free one other American held in Russia, Paul Whelan, additionally a former Marine.
Joey and Paula Reed, the mother and father of Trevor Reed, thanked Biden and others, saying in an announcement that the “president’s motion could have saved Trevor’s life.”
His father, Joey, later informed reporters that they’d two telephone calls with their son on Wednesday.
U.S. ex-Marine Trevor Reed, who was detained in 2019 and accused of assaulting cops, is escorted earlier than a court docket listening to in Moscow, Russia March 11, 2020. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva/File Photograph
“It did not sound like him (within the first name). The second name, he sounded extra like himself. He should’ve gotten some fluids and meals in him. He was cracking jokes,” Joey Reed mentioned.
Russian state tv video, performed on CNN, confirmed Reed, showing skinny and carrying a darkish overcoat, being supported on each side by males carrying camouflage. Russia state media described the video as exhibiting Reed at an airport in Russia.
“He seems horrible to us. As his mother and father, we all know he doesn’t look effectively,” Paula Reed informed CNN exterior their residence in Granbury, Texas.
“The American aircraft pulled up subsequent to the Russian aircraft, and so they walked each prisoners such as you see within the motion pictures,” Joey Reed informed CNN.
Biden met with Joey and Paula Reed on March 30. The next week, the mother and father mentioned {that a} prisoner swap appeared to be the one technique to deliver Reed residence and urged the White Home to take all doable steps.
The months of tense diplomacy that led to Reed’s launch centered strictly on securing his freedom and weren’t the beginnings of discussions on different points, senior Biden administration officers mentioned. Russian Overseas Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova mentioned the swap adopted a prolonged negotiation course of.
Russian information businesses reported on April 4 that Reed had ended a starvation strike and was being handled in his jail’s medical middle. The jail service mentioned Reed had gone on starvation strike on March 28 to protest disciplinary motion in opposition to him.
Reed’s mother and father mentioned on the time that he had been uncovered to an inmate with lively tuberculosis in December. The jail service mentioned Reed had repeatedly examined detrimental for tuberculosis.
The Reeds mentioned their son would inform his story when prepared.
“We would respectfully ask for some privateness whereas we tackle the myriad of well being points introduced on by the squalid situations he was subjected to in his Russian gulag,” they mentioned.
Biden mentioned his administration will proceed to work for the discharge of Whelan and others. Whelan has been held on spying costs that he denies and that he has likened to a political kidnapping.
Whelan’s household mentioned they fearful that the deal made with Russia on Yaroshenko dimmed prospects for Whelan’s launch.
“Is President Biden’s failure to deliver Paul residence an admission that some circumstances are too arduous to unravel?” they requested in an announcement. “Who will get saved is the president’s selection.”
U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was detained at a Moscow airport on Feb. 17 when a search of her baggage allegedly revealed a number of hashish oil vape cartridges. She faces as much as 10 years in jail.
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Reporting by Doina Chiacu, Humeyra Pamuk, Simon Lewis, Susan Heavey, Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington, Barbara Goldberg in New York, David Ljunggren in Ottawa and Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Modifying by Will Dunham, Chizu Nomiyama and Leslie Adler
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