On Wednesday, April 27 2022, Russia and the United States exchanged prisoners, exchanging Reed, a Marine veteran imprisoned in Moscow, for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot serving a 20-year federal prison sentence in Connecticut for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the United States.
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President Joe Biden said he was “delighted” to tell Mr Reed’s parents about his return.
“I could hear in Trevor’s parents’ voices how much they worried about his health and missed his presence,” he said. “The negotiations that allowed us to bring Trevor home necessitated difficult decisions that I do not take lightly,” he added.
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Mr Reed, 30, visited Moscow in 2019 to learn Russian and see his Russian girlfriend.
He was detained by two police officers after attending a party on a drunken night out. He is said to have grabbed the police officer driving, causing him to swerve dangerously, and elbowed the other officer who tried to intervene while being driven to the police station.
He pleaded not guilty, claiming he had no recollection of the incident but was sentenced to nine years in prison on assault charges in 2020. Joey and Paula Reed claim that their son was mistreated in prison and appears to have contracted tuberculosis.
Last month, the couple protested outside the White House, eventually securing a meeting with the president.
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