Russia releases U.S. Marine veteran Trevor Reed as part of prisoner exchange

The dramatic exchange between Russia and the U.S. unfolded Wednesday

Russia has released former Texas Marine Trevor Reed in a prisoner exchange with the United States, his family and a senior U.S. official said Wednesday, Qazet.az reports.

“Today, our prayers have been answered and Trevor is safely on his way back to the United States,” Joey, Paula, and Taylor Reed said in a statement.

They expressed Reed will “tell his own story” when he is ready before asking for privacy to address “the myriad of health issues brought on by the squalid conditions he was subjected to in his Russian gulag.”  

The dramatic exchange between Russia and the U.S. unfolded Wednesday, trading Reed, who was jailed in Moscow, for convicted Russian drug trafficker Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2010. 

Russia and the United States carried out the dramatic exchange on Wednesday, trading Reed, who was jailed in Moscow, for a convicted Russian drug trafficker serving a long prison sentence in America, a senior U.S. official said.

The surprise deal would have been a notable diplomatic maneuver even in times of peace, but it was all the more extraordinary because it was done as Russia’s war with Ukraine has driven relations with the U.S. to their lowest point in decades.

As part of the exchange, Russia released Reed, who was arrested in the summer of 2019 after Russian authorities said he assaulted an officer while being driven by police to a police station following a night of heavy drinking. Reed was later sentenced to nine years in prison, though his family has maintained his innocence and the U.S. government has described him as unjustly detained.

The U.S. agreed to return Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot serving a 20-year federal prison sentence in Connecticut for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the U.S. after he was arrested in Liberia in 2010 and extradited to the U.S.