The moms and dads of Trevor Reed, a previous U.S. Marine who was sentenced in 2015 to 9 years in a Russian jail, state they hope the upcoming top in between President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin will cause a detainee swap.
“We don’t care how he comes home, if they want to exchange Trevor for some criminals that you know are low-level criminals or whatever,” Trevor’s dad, Joey, stated on NBC’s “TODAY” reveal on Monday.
“We’re fine with that. We want our son home,” Trevor’s mom, Paula, inserted.
“Hey, American prisons then don’t have to pay for their housing,” Joey Reed stated. “Send them home.”
Trevor Reed was identified with Covid-19 last month, and his household is having a hard time to get updates about his condition.
The bro of Paul Whelan, another previous Marine who was likewise apprehended in Russia and sentenced to 16 years in jail in 2015, nevertheless, has actually blended sensations about the concept of a detainee exchange in between the 2 nations.
“He is innocent, he was wrongly accused. We would rather see the door come open and him come out rather than some sort of negotiated release of Russian convicts,” Whelan’s bro stated Monday on “TODAY.”
Paul Whelan was implicated of being a spy and was apprehended at the end of 2018. His bro stated he remained in Russia to go to a wedding event.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated the illegal detentions of Whelan and Reed require to end which detainee swaps would be on the table when Biden and Putin satisfy.
Putin stated in an NBC News interview on Friday ahead of the top with Biden that he’s open to a detainee swap. He stated the variety of Russian detainees in the U.S. “don’t even compare” with the variety of American detainees in Russia.
Asked about the put behind bars males, Putin stated Reed was a “troublemaker” and “drunk” who “got himself s**t-faced and started a fight.” Reed is serving a nine-year sentence for striking a Russian policeman in 2019, a charge the U.S. ambassador to Russia has actually called “flimsy.” Reed and his household reject the charges.
Joey Reed stated the “false statements about our son are surprising.”
“Why didn’t you prove it?” Reed asked. “The kangaroo court they held — anyone could see that this was a sham and a fake and that my son was innocent.”
Paula Reed called Putin’s words “offensive and untrue.”
“Witnesses and video evidence were ignored by the judge, and he was given the longest sentence in modern Russian history for the crime,” Reed stated. But “we’re very happy to hear that President Putin is open to a prisoner exchange, and we hope that that’s something that happens very soon because Trevor and Paul Whelan both have been there long enough considering that they’re innocent of the charges against them.”
Joey Reed stated the couple is enthusiastic since the Biden administration has actually been “very outspoken about our son, which was a change.”
“Of all the major issues between our countries, this prisoner exchange is probably the easiest,” Joey Reed stated. “If they can accomplish anything in this summit, it would be this exchange.”
Corky Siemaszko contributed.
