Trevor Reed, the former Marine who was detained in Russia for nearly three years, has now arrived back in the United States.
In exchange for Reed’s release on Wednesday, the U.S. agreed to return Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot serving a 20-year federal prison sentence in Connecticut for conspiracy to smuggle drugs into the U.S.
Reed was flown from Moscow “to Turkey, and then Trevor quickly told us that the American plane pulled up next to the Russian plane, and they walked both prisoners across at the same time, like you see in the movies,” Joey Reed, Trevor’s father, said on CNN.
WHELAN FAMILY CONCERNED ABOUT WHAT TREVOR REED SWAP MEANS FOR DETAINED BROTHER
He reached Texas early Thursday morning, where he was reunited with his family. Rep. August Pfluger, the lawmaker who represents the Reeds in Congress and has long publicized Reed’s detainment, was there as well, and he shared photos on social media.
This is the moment we have all been praying for. WELCOME HOME, Trevor Reed! ?? @freetrevorreed pic.twitter.com/GooLSxSfsk
— Rep. August Pfluger (@RepPfluger) April 28, 2022
“Well, it was overwhelming to see the joy on Paula and Joey Reed’s face to understand just how hard they had worked,” he said in an interview on Fox News. “How tirelessly they had made every effort possible to bring their son home. And, you know, it’s a good news story in America. President Biden did the right thing here. And to realize a Marine is back on American soil, the country that he loves, was just incredible. It really was a moment.”
“Standing on the tarmac alongside Trevor Reed’s loving parents to watch him take his first steps back on free American soil is a moment I will never forget,” the congressman told the Washington Examiner in a statement. “Paula and Joey — alongside so many others — have prayed, advocated, and worked tirelessly to secure his release. Texas never forgot about Trevor Reed, and today, we welcome him home as an American hero.”
Reed was arrested and charged with beating a police officer following a night of heavy drinking in the summer of 2019, and he had been detained since then, with both his parents and the U.S. government demanding his release. He was in Russia visiting his girlfriend that summer.
The efforts of Reed’s parents to raise awareness about their son’s plight gained new intensity upon reports that Trevor’s health had been deteriorating. He had COVID-19, and his father told the Washington Examiner last month that his son had shown signs of contracting tuberculosis and needed medical attention.
Reed’s “health was a source of an intense concern” for President Joe Biden, according to a senior defense official, who said the president had to make “a very hard decision” in agreeing to swap Reed for Yaroshenko, who was serving a 20-year sentence handed down in 2011 after he was extradited to the U.S. The official said that Yaroshenko’s return to Russia “in no way undermines or diminishes the importance of the finding of his guilt.”
“We are respecting not only his health, but also his emotional well-being and making sure that his reintegration process is going to be successful,” Pfluger said of Reed’s health. “It’s a tricky thing, and the professionals at Army South are doing a great job of that.”
The president and Reed’s parents met last month after they got Biden’s attention outside of his motorcade weeks earlier, which led to a phone call between them.
Two other Americans, Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner, remain in Russian custody. The former has been detained on espionage charges that he denies, while the latter is a WNBA player who was arrested on charges of drug possession.
Whelan’s brother David told the Washington Examiner in an interview that he was happy to hear about Reed’s release but expressed concern about how his release affects Whelan’s chances for freedom.
“Yaroshenko was someone who the Russians had been asking for in relation to Paul’s case from as far as we know, the very first day that Paul was arrested before anybody knew he had been arrested,” David Whelan said. “And so that’s a concession that the U.S. government has now made, but that concession hasn’t resulted in Paul’s freedom. So there are now fewer choices, fewer concessions that the U.S. government might be able to make, and so it creates a little bit of concern about whether the opportunities to release Paul have narrowed or become harder than it was before.”
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Whelan, who, like Reed, is a former Marine, was arrested in his room at the Metropol Hotel in Moscow on Dec. 28, 2018, and was charged with espionage. Russian authorities say they caught him with classified information, though he and U.S. officials have said the charges were false. He was sentenced in June 2020 to 16 years in prison.
Griner was arrested on charges of drug possession in Russia earlier this spring.
“We continue to insist that they allow consistent, timely consular access to all U.S. citizen detainees in Russia. We are closely engaged on this case and in frequent contact with Ms. Griner’s legal team,” a State Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner. “You’ve heard us say this many times — we have no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens.”
