A former US marine held in a Russian jail since 2019 has been released in a prisoner swap.
US and Russian officials confirmed on Wednesday that Trevor Reed is on his way back to the US.
In exchange, Russia’s foreign ministry secured the release of Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian national jailed on drug smuggling charges.
The Reed family wrote that their “prayers have been answered”.
In a statement, they said the marine would tell his story after addressing “the myriad of health issues” brought on by living in a Russian gulag.
President Joe Biden said he had been “delighted” to share the news of Mr Reed’s return with his parents.
“I heard in the voices of Trevor’s parents how much they’ve worried about his health and missed his presence,” he said.
He added: “The negotiations that allowed us to bring Trevor home required difficult decisions that I do not take lightly.”
Mr Reed went to Moscow in 2019 to learn Russian and visit his Russian girlfriend.
On a drunken night out, he was detained by two police officers after attending a party. While being driven to the police station, he is said to have grabbed the police officer driving, causing him to swerve dangerously, and elbowed the other officer who tried to intervene.
Maintaining that he had no recollection of the incident, he pleaded not guilty but was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2020 on assault charges.
The US government voiced several concerns about the fairness of his trial, with US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan recently saying that Mr Reed “remains in prison for a crime he didn’t commit”.
According to the Reeds, their son was poorly treated in prison and even contracted tuberculosis at one point.
The prisoner swap appears to have been carried out in Turkey.
Mr Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot, was serving a 20-year sentence for smuggling cocaine into the US.
His lawyer has confirmed the Russian national is also headed home.
