Former US Marine Trevor Reed is escorted to a plane as part of a prisoner swap, in Moscow
(Picture: via REUTERS)The parents of a former US Marine freed from a Russian jail as part of a prisoner swap have told of their relief that he is coming home.
Trevor Reed, 30, had been held in Russian jail since 2019 after being convicted of “endangering the lives” of two police officers while drunk on a visit to Moscow.
The US had dismissed his trial as a “theatre of the absurd”.
Mr Reed was swapped for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was jailed in the US on drug-smuggling charges. US authorities said the exchange was not part of broader diplomatic efforts or a shift in Washington’s strategy towards the war in Ukraine.
Footage from Russia’s state TV channel Rossiya 24 showed Mr Reed being escorted to Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport, from where he was flying back to the United States, RIA news agency reported.
The swap occurred in Turkey, and the United States thanked Turkey, a Nato ally, for its help facilitating the exchange.
Speaking outside their home in Texas on Wednesday, his parents Joey and Paula Reed said that they felt “almost as good as the day he was born”.
His father later said they had held two phone calls with their son.
"It didn’t sound like him (in the first call). The second call, he sounded more like himself. He must’ve gotten some fluids and food in him. He was cracking jokes," he said.
The Reeds fear that their son has tuberculosis and a broken rib following his stint in Russian prison, but they said their son would tell his story once he had recovered.
“We’d respectfully ask for some privacy while we address the myriad of health issues brought on by the squalid conditions he was subjected to in his Russian gulag,” they said.
The family had met with President Biden on March 30, and said he “probably saved our son’s life”.
“Anyone who says he’s [Mr Biden’s] not a compassionate or kind man is just a liar or an idiot,” they added.
In a statement, Mr Biden said: “Today, we welcome home Trevor Reed and celebrate his return to the family that missed him dearly.
“The negotiations that allowed us to bring Trevor home required difficult decisions that I do not take lightly.”
Mr Yaroshenko had been serving a 20-year sentence since 2011 for smuggling cocaine into the US. He will return to Russia in the coming days after President Biden commuted his sentence, the TASS news agency reported.
