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28 Apr 2022, 05:05

Russia’s Belgorod region ready to offer all-round support to Yaroshenko — governor

On Wednesday, Konstantin Yaroshenko was swapped for American student Trevor Reed

MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. The authorities of Russia’s Rostov region will do their best to support Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Belgorod region native, who was exchanged for US citizen Trevor Reed on Wednesday, the region’s governor Vasily Golubev told TASS on Thursday.

"The region will do its best to support our fellow countryman. We never abandon our people," he reassured.

The Russian foreign ministry said on Wednesday that Yaroshenko had been swapped for American student Trevor Reed. Yaroshenko was sentenced in the United States on September 7, 2011, to 20 years in prison. He denies his guilt, slamming his arrest as a provocation, and castigating the whole affair as a fabricated case. The pilot was brought to the United States from Liberia, where he was arrested on May 28, 2010. Undercover agents allegedly accused him of a "criminal conspiracy" to transport a large batch of cocaine. Moscow repeatedly asked Washington to hand Yaroshenko over to Russia but all requests were rejected.

Reed was sentenced to nine years behind bars in Russia in 2020 on charges of attacking policemen.