WASHINGTON: The US and Russia swapped prisoners on Wednesday amid their most tense relations in decades over the war in Ukraine, with former US Marine Trevor Reed released in exchange for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko.
The swap, which took place in Turkey, was not part of broader diplomatic talks and did not represent an American change in approach on Ukraine, US officials said. Russian-American ties have been at their worst since the Cold War era following Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine.
Reed was convicted in Russia in 2019 of endangering the lives of two police officers while drunk on a visit to Moscow.