Joe Biden said on Wednesday April 27 that he had to make "
difficult decisions
" to obtain the release of ex-US Marine Trevor Reed, exchanged for a Russian pilot imprisoned in the United States.
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Read alsoMoscow exchanges ex-US Marine Trevor Reed for a Russian incarcerated in the United States
“
Trevor, a former US Marine, has been released from prison in Russia
,” the US president said in a statement.
“
The negotiations that allowed us to bring Trevor home required difficult decisions that I do not take lightly
,” he added.
“
His safe return is a testament to the priority my administration places on the repatriation of Americans held hostage and wrongfully detained abroad
,” he said.
“A long process of negotiation”
Russian diplomacy had announced just before that Trevor Reed, sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia for violence, had been exchanged for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot imprisoned in the United States for cocaine trafficking, citing "
a long process of negotiation
".
“
I am pleased to announce the release of US citizen Trevor Reed, unjustly detained in Russia
,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said in a statement.
“
We welcome this important release, while continuing to call for the release of unjustly detained American citizen Paul Whelan
,” he added, referring to this man convicted in Moscow of espionage.
Read alsoUkraine: 10 soldiers and 9 civilians released in a prisoner exchange
Trevor Reed, aged 30, was sentenced in July 2020 to nine years in prison for having assaulted in August 2019, while intoxicated, two police officers called to the scene of a party in Moscow.
He had denied the aggression and denounced a “
political
” affair against the backdrop of Russian-American tensions.
Konstantin Yaroshenko was arrested in Liberia in 2010 by US secret service agents.
Accused of drug trafficking, he was taken to the United States where justice sentenced him to 20 years in prison.
