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Mr. Richardson mentioned on CNN on Wednesday that he believed Mr. Biden was moved by the humanitarian have to safe Mr. Reed’s launch. Members of the family mentioned he was affected by energetic tuberculosis whereas in detention in Russia.
However Mr. Biden’s determination to approve the prisoner swap additionally got here after weeks of intense public strain from Mr. Reed’s dad and mom, who initially criticized the president for refusing to satisfy with them about their son’s case.
Mr. Biden referred to as them on the telephone in early March after the couple stood on the aspect of the street in Texas and waved because the presidential motorcade drove by on the best way to an occasion about veterans. Three weeks later, in late March, Mr. Biden invited the couple into the White Home for a quick dialog after they protested exterior the constructing.
That public strain gained momentum because the conflict in Ukraine intensified, elevating issues that the deteriorating relationship between the USA and Russia would make a breakthrough much less possible. Actually, American officers and Mr. Richardson mentioned the preventing in Ukraine didn’t seem to hamper Russia’s willingness to debate the swap.
Mr. Reed was initially detained by Russian authorities in August 2019. His household had more and more expressed concern about his well being whereas he was in detention, and pictures aired on Wednesday by Russian state-run tv confirmed what gave the impression to be a gaunt Mr. Reed being escorted to a Russian aircraft at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport. Mr. Reed’s father, Joey Reed, advised CNN that his son had been flown to Turkey, the place the change passed off.
A local of Texas, Mr. Reed traveled to Russia in Could 2019 to go to his Russian girlfriend, whom he had met on a courting web site, and to take language classes. One week earlier than his deliberate return to the USA, he went to a celebration at a park exterior Moscow, the place he drank intensive quantities of vodka.
Mr. Reed then acquired agitated, prompting his girlfriend and buddies to name the police. Officers who arrived on the scene determined to take him to a police station, the place he was interviewed by Russian safety brokers. Shortly after, he was accused of assaulting and endangering the lives of the 2 cops who had pushed him there.
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