The United States on Wednesday thanked Turkey for its role in the release of Trevor Reed, an American citizen and former Marine who had been detained in Russia for three years. Also, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday in a phone call with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan thanked Turkey for coordinating and supervising the prisoner swap in Ankara.
"As we welcome home Trevor Reed, we are grateful to Turkey for its role in making his safe return possible," White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Twitter.
"We appreciate our Turkish partners' assistance on this important matter."
Sullivan did not offer additional details on Ankara's role, but Joey Reed, Trevor's father, told CNN that his son was exchanged for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko at an airport in Turkey.
"Trevor quickly told us that the American plane pulled up to the Russian plane, and they walked both prisoners across at the same time like you see in the movies," he said.
"They were leaving Turkey and were in the air when he called us and told us this."
White House spokesperson Jen Psaki reiterated Sullivan's thanks, saying the Biden administration is "very grateful to Turkey for allowing the exchange to take place in their country."
In his phone call with Putin, Erdoğan said Turkey's role in the exchange is not only a sign of prioritizing peace, dialogue and cooperation but also meaningful in terms of mediation efforts.
He also reiterated Ankara's readiness to take the initiative to end the war between Russia and Ukraine and to mediate toward the road to peace.
Yaroshenko was arrested in Liberia in 2010 on drug smuggling charges and extradited to the U.S. where he was serving a 20-year prison term.
Reed was detained in Russia in 2019 after being apprehended on charges of attacking police officers in Moscow. He was convicted and sentenced to nine years in prison.
Biden hailed Reed's release "from Russian detention," saying the "negotiations that allowed us to bring Trevor home required difficult decisions that I do not take lightly."
"His safe return is a testament to the priority my administration places on bringing home Americans held hostage and wrongfully detained abroad," he said in a statement.
The deal that secured Reed's release is not indicative of a wider rapprochement with Russia as it continues its offensive against Ukraine, a senior administration official maintained.
"I want to be very clear: This is a discrete issue on which we were able to make an arrangement with the Russians. It represents no change, zero, to our approach to the appalling violence in Ukraine," the official said on condition of anonymity.
The surprise deal would have been a notable diplomatic maneuver even in times of peace, but it was all the more extraordinary because it was done as Russia's war with Ukraine has driven relations with the U.S. to their lowest point in decades.