Russia and the United States have carried out a long-discussed prisoner swap, but one that still came as a surprise. Russia released US citizen Trevor Reed and received Konstantin Yaroshenko, convicted in the US, in exchange, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday. US President Joe Biden confirmed Reed's release in Washington. Biden and his Russian counterpart Putin had discussed the exchange at their summit meeting in Geneva last year. In view of the tense relations between the two countries, drastically exacerbated by the Ukraine war, this development is unexpected.
The US had repeatedly demanded the release of the 30-year-old Reed. In July 2020, he was sentenced to nine years in a prison camp for allegedly assaulting police officers and resisting Russian authorities. The US ambassador to Russia, John Sullivan, had criticised the sentence as absurd theatre. - dpa
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