Reed's Parents Say Son's Swap For Yaroshenko Was 'Like In The Movies'

The parents of former US marine Trevor Reed told CNN that the exchange of their son for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko at a Turkish airfield resembled a scene from spy movies

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th April, 2022) The parents of former US marine Trevor Reed told CNN that the exchange of their son for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko at a Turkish airfield resembled a scene from spy movies.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Russian authorities announced they were releasing Reed, who was sentenced in 2020 to nine years in prison, in exchange for Yaroshenko. The latter was serving a 20-year term in the United States and spent 12 years in prison.

"They flew him from there (Moscow's Lefortovo prison) to Turkey, and then Trevor quickly told us that the American plane pulled up next to the Russian plane, and they walked, both prisoners, across at the same time like you see in the movies," Joey, Reed's father, said.

The parents called their son immediately after his release, about which they had been informed by the State Department and personally by President Joe Biden.

The US has said that Washington and Moscow were engaged in many months of discrete diplomacy to exchange Yaroshenko for Reed. According to the official, the talks were "not part of broader diplomatic discussions," and were only limited to this particular issue. These discussions "do not change" the US attitude toward Russia, the official added.