© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. ex-Marine Trevor Reed, who was detained in 2019 and accused of assaulting law enforcement officials, gestures inside a defendants’ cage throughout a court docket listening to in Moscow, Russia March 11, 2020. REUTERS/Tatyana Makeyeva
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By Humeyra Pamuk and Doina Chiacu
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The USA and Russia swapped prisoners on Wednesday amid their most tense relations in a long time over the battle in Ukraine, with former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed launched in trade for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko.
The swap was not a part of broader diplomatic talks and didn’t symbolize an American change in method on Ukraine, U.S. officers stated. Russian-American ties have been at their worst for the reason that Chilly Warfare period following Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine and subsequent Western sanctions imposed on Moscow.
Reed, from Texas, was anticipated to reach again in the USA on Wednesday night time, State Division spokesperson Ned Value stated. Senior U.S. officers stated the 30-year-old was in “good spirits.”
“As we speak, we welcome dwelling Trevor Reed and have fun his return to the household that missed him dearly,” President Joe Biden stated in an announcement, noting the dad and mom’ issues about their son’s well being.
“The negotiations that allowed us to convey Trevor dwelling required troublesome choices that I don’t take flippantly,” Biden added.
Requested in a while Wednesday how he was in a position to increase the difficulty of Reed’s (NASDAQ:) detention amid the broader tensions with Russia over Ukraine, Biden stated, “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 law enforcement officials whereas drunk on a go to to Moscow. The USA referred to as his trial a “theater of the absurd.”
U.S. officers stated 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 USA. Russia had proposed a prisoner swap for Yaroshenko in July 2019 in trade for the discharge of any American.
The swap occurred in Turkey, and the USA thanked Turkey, a NATO ally, for its assist in the trade. Russian information businesses reported that Yaroshenko then flew from Ankara to Sochi and eventually to Moscow. Rossiya 1, Russia’s major 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 stated they have been working to free one other American held in Russia, Paul Whelan, additionally a former Marine.
Joey and Paula Reed, the dad and mom of Trevor Reed, thanked Biden and others, saying in an announcement that the “president’s motion might have saved Trevor’s life.”
His father, Joey, later instructed reporters that that they had two cellphone calls with their son on Wednesday.
“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 stated.
“LOOKS TERRIBLE”
Russian state tv video, performed on CNN, confirmed Reed, showing skinny and sporting a darkish overcoat, being supported on either side by males sporting camouflage. Russia state media described the video as displaying Reed at an airport in Russia.
“He seems to be horrible to us. As his dad and mom, we all know he doesn’t look nicely,” Paula Reed instructed CNN outdoors their dwelling in Granbury, Texas.
“The American airplane pulled up subsequent to the Russian airplane, and so they walked each prisoners such as you see within the films,” Joey Reed instructed CNN.
Biden met with Joey and Paula Reed on March 30. The next week, the dad and mom stated {that a} prisoner swap gave the impression to be the one option to convey Reed dwelling and urged the White Home to take all potential 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 stated. Russian Overseas Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova stated 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 stated Reed had gone on starvation strike on March 28 to protest disciplinary motion towards him.
Reed’s dad and mom stated on the time that he had been uncovered to an inmate with energetic tuberculosis in December. The jail service stated Reed had repeatedly examined destructive for tuberculosis.
The Reeds stated their son would inform his story when prepared.
“We might 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 stated.
Biden stated his administration will proceed to work for the discharge of Whelan and others. Whelan has been held on spying fees that he denies and that he has likened to a political kidnapping.
Whelan’s household stated they nervous that the deal made with Russia on Yaroshenko dimmed prospects for Whelan’s launch.
“Is President Biden’s failure to convey Paul dwelling an admission that some instances are too arduous to unravel?” they requested in an announcement. “Who will get saved is the president’s alternative.”
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.
