MOSCOW, April 27. /TASS/. Moscow will continue making every effort to release all Russians jailed in the United States, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Russian national Konstantin Yaroshenko’s release from a US prison.
"The most important thing is that justice has been served and Konstantin Yaroshenko is finally home with his family. We will continue to make every effort to release all Russians caught under the wheels of America’s punitive justice system, protect their rights and ensure their unimpeded return to Russia," the statement reads.
The ministry pointed out that Yaroshenko had fallen "victim to a provocation staged by US intelligence agencies" and had been doomed to be convicted in the US. "During all these terrible years behind bars, when he was suffering from discrimination and degrading treatment, including refusals to provide him with proper medical care, the United States was under pressure at all levels to improve his incarceration conditions and agree the terms for his prompt return, which involved all the existing international legal tools," the statement added.
"As a result, we were able to eventually achieve success in putting pressure on Washington, taking advantage of the United States’ interest in exchanging US national Trevor Reed, jailed in Russia for a drunken brawl and resistance to police," the Russian Foreign Ministry noted. "Although he had barely served two years out of his nine-year prison term (while Konstantin Yaroshenko had spend 12 years in prison), there was much hype around him in the US where he was painted as kind of ‘a victim of arbitrary action." However, we fully used the opportunity to bring our fellow countryman back home," the statement said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry announced earlier that Yaroshenko had been swapped for American student Trevor Reed on April 27.