The parents of Marine Trevor Reed, freed by Russia in a prisoner exchange with the United States, have expressed their joy at having their son back home.
Reed had been in a Russian jail since 2019 and was exchanged for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian citizen imprisoned on drug smuggling charges.
According to his parents, Joey and Paula Reed, their son was mistreated in prison and appeared to have contracted tuberculosis.
Outside the Reeds’ house in a suburb of Dallas in the state of Texas, the mother said she felt “almost as good as the day she was born” in an interview with the media.
Reed’s parents also thanked President Joe Biden and said that “he had probably saved the life of his son”.
The return of the infant in the United States was confirmed by Russian and American officials this Wednesday.
After confirming the news, the Reed family said in a statement that their ” prayers have been answered.”
A story to be made public
The parents said that the Marine would tell his story publicly after addressing “the myriad of health problems” caused by the conditions he was “subjected to in his Russian gulag.”
President Joe Biden indicated on Wednesday that he was “thrilled” to share the news of Reed’s return with his parents.
“I heard in the voices of Trevor’s parents how much they worried about his health and missed his presence,” he said.
“The negotiations that allowed us to bring Trevor home required difficult decisions that I don’t take lightly,” he added.
Reed, from 30 years, traveled to Moscow in 2019 to learn Russian and visit his Russian girlfriend.
On a drunken night, he was arrested by two policemen after attending a party. As he was being taken to the police station, he confronted the officer who was driving, elbowing the other officer who tried to intervene.
Pleaded not guilty after stating that he did not remember the incident, but was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2020 on assault charges.
The United States government expressed concerns about the impartiality ofl trial, and Washington’s ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, recently said that Reed was still “in prison for a crime he did not commit ”.
Reed’s parents, Paula and Joey, protested in front of the White House last month and finally got a meeting with Biden.
Senior officials are Americans said Reed’s release had been “the result of months and months of hard and careful work” and that there was “growing concern” for his health while in detention.
“Prisoner problems”
For its part, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed on Wednesday the release of Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian citizen jailed on drug smuggling charges.
The prisoner exchange was carried out through Turkey, after Biden commuted Yaroshenko’s sentence.
The Russian pilot was serving a sentence of 20 years since 2011 to be entered smuggled cocaine into the United States. His lawyer has confirmed that the Russian citizen is also headed home.
Officials have said the exchange was not the start of a diplomatic dialogue broader with Russia and instead narrowly focused on a “discrete set of prisoner issues”.
That means the fate of other Americans currently detained in Russia, including Brittney Griner, a double Olympic gold medalist in women’s basketball, remains unclear for now.
In a statement, the family of Paul Whelan, a former US Marine detained on espionage charges, said they were “overjoyed for the Reeds” , but that Whelan was running out of time.
“Paul has already spent three and a quarter years as a Russian hostage“, they wrote. “Is the fact that President Biden did not bring Paul home a sign that some cases are too difficult to solve? Is the fragmented management approach only picking up the easiest results?”.
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