MOSCOW TRADES US EX-MARINE FOR RUSSIAN PILOT IN PRISONER SWAP

Wed 27 April 2022:

Moscow and Washington have exchanged Russian national Konstantin Yaroshenko, who is serving a 20-year sentence in the United States, for former US Marine Trevor Reed, who was sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia, following lengthy negotiations on Wednesday, the Russian foreign ministry said.

“As a result of a lengthy negotiation process, on April 27, 2022, US citizen Trevor … Reed, previously convicted in Russia, was exchanged for Russian citizen Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a US court in 2010,” the ministry told reporters.

Discrete Diplomacy

The United States and Russia were engaged in many months of discrete diplomacy to exchange pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko for ex-marine Trevor Reed, a senior US administration official said on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Moscow announced it has released Reed, who was sentenced to nine years in prison in Russia, in exchange for Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was serving a 20-year term in the United States, following lengthy negotiations.

“There were many many months of discreet diplomacy,” the official said.

According to the official, the US-Russia talks were “not part of broader diplomatic discussions,” and were only limited to these particular issues. These discussions “do not change” the US attitude toward Russia, the official added.

‘Difficult Decisions’

The family of US citizen Paul Whelan, who is serving a 16-year prison sentence in a Russia after being convicted of espionage, said on Wednesday they are happy former Marine Trevor Reed has been released, but feared the Biden administration is unwilling to make “difficult decisions to free their son.

“Our family is full of happiness for the Reeds, whose son, Trevor, has been released from detention by the Russian government.

It’s the event that we hope for so much in our own lives,” the Whelans said in a statement.

Former US President Donald Trump was not able to make “difficult decisions” to help bring back Paul to the United States, and apparently so is current President Joe Biden, the statement said.

“It may be President Biden is unwilling to make them either. We hope we don’t have to pin our hopes on another American President before someone will do the right thing for Paul,” the statement added.

NEWS AGENCIES

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