Exchange of prisoners between the United States and Russia

The United States announced on Wednesday that it had obtained the release of a former American marine sentenced in Russia to 9 years in prison for violence in 2019.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said US national Trevor Reed was released in a prisoner swap for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was serving a 20-year sentence for drug trafficking. .

A senior US official later confirmed that President Biden had commuted Yaroshenko’s sentence in exchange for Reed’s release, noting that the Russian citizen had already served most of his sentence in federal prison for cocaine trafficking. . Yaroshenko was convicted in 2011 in the Southern District of New York.

“The negotiations that allowed us to bring Trevor home required difficult decisions that I do not take lightly. His safe return is a testament to the priority my administration places on the return of Americans taken hostage and wrongfully detained abroad,” Trump said in a statement.

At least two other Americans, basketball star Brittney Griner and former Marine Paul Whelan, are still being held in Russia.

Griner was arrested in Russia in mid-February on suspicion of drug trafficking. A Moscow court recently extended his detention until May 19, according to Russian news agency TASS.

For his part, Whelan has been detained in Russia since 2018 on espionage charges.