Washington and Moscow exchange two prisoners

Russia and the United States announced on Wednesday that they held an exchange of prisoners, the former American marine Trevor Reid and the Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, despite the escalation of tension between the two countries against the backdrop of the Russian war on Ukraine.

Trevor Reed, 30, of Texas, had been imprisoned in Russia since 2020, while Yaroshenko, 53, was imprisoned in the United States under a 20-year prison sentence issued in 2011.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram that the exchange was "the result of protracted negotiations."

Pictures broadcast by Russian state television showed Reed, dressed in black and carrying a large suitcase, boarding a plane at Moscow's Vnukovo Airport, surrounded by soldiers.

His father, Joey Reed, said that Trevor was transferred this week to a prison in Moscow and that the exchange took place on the tarmac of an airport in Turkey.

US President Joe Biden stressed Wednesday that the negotiations required "hard decisions."

He added, "His safe return is a testament to the priority the US administration attaches to the return of Americans who are being held hostage and unjustly detained abroad, to their homeland."

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