Posted on 04/27/22
| News Source: FOX News
The U.S. and Russia have carried out a prisoner swap Wednesday, exchanging Trevor Reed – a Marine veteran jailed in Moscow – for a Russian drug trafficker who has been serving time in America, a senior U.S. official told the Associated Press.
The deal comes as tensions between U.S. and Russia are running high, with Moscow's bloody invasion of Ukraine in its 63rd day.
"Today, we welcome home Trevor Reed and celebrate his return to the family that missed him dearly. Trevor, a former U.S. Marine, is free from Russian detention," President Biden said in a statement. "I heard in the voices of Trevor’s parents how much they’ve worried about his health and missed his presence. And I was delighted to be able to share with them the good news about Trevor’s freedom."
In their own statement, the Reed family thanked Biden "for making the decision to bring Trevor home" as well as other administration officials and Bill Richardson, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations whom the family said traveled to Moscow in the hours before the Ukraine war began in hopes of securing Reed's release.
Reed was one of several Americans known to be held by Russia, including WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was detained in February after authorities said a search of her bag revealed a cannabis derivative, and Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan, who is being held on espionage-related charges his family says are bogus.
"We won’t stop until Paul Whelan and others join Trevor in the loving arms of family and friends," Biden also said Wednesday.
U.S. senior administration officials said Wednesday that Reed, who is in "good spirits", is currently heading back to America to be reunited with his family and that his health was an "intense concern" and driving factor leading to his release.
"This is a discreet issue in which we were able to make an arrangement with the Russians," one official said about the prisoner swap. "It represents no change – zero – to our approach to the appalling violence in Ukraine."