Former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed freed from Russia in prisoner swap

Former U.S. Marine¹ Trevor Reed freed from Russia in prisoner swap²

Transcript³

A former U.S. Marine is on his way back to the United States after being released from Russian detention⁴. Trevor Reed's release was part of a prisoner swap between the U.S. and Russia.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

A former U.S. Marine is now on his way back home after being imprisoned⁵ in Russia for 985 days. The Biden administration and Trevor Reed's parents made the announcement this morning. NPR diplomatic correspondent Michele Kelemen is following the story and joins us now.

Michele, just give us more details, as you know them, about Trevor Reed's release.

MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE⁷: So U.S. officials are saying this was the result of months and months of hard and careful work, as they put it. The U.S. released a Russian man from prison - we can talk about that in a minute - and the Russians, as you say, released Trevor Reed. He was first detained in 2019 for a scuffle with Russian police. He's always maintained his innocence⁸. And the U.S. considered him unjustly detained - effectively a hostage. There were a lot of concerns about his health, and officials today say that's what led to this flurry of talks to get him out of prison. We're told that he was in good spirits and is on his way home with the U.S. Hostage Affairs envoy⁹.

MARTIN: Reed's parents, I understand, were instrumental in at least talking about his imprisonment¹⁰, getting it out, which is a particular kind of strategy. Can you talk about their role in this?

KELEMEN: Yeah. I mean, they've been playing a big role publicly for all this time. But they staged a protest outside the White House last month and got a meeting with President Biden. I think it really was about all their - the concerns about his health. They put a statement out today saying that Trevor Reed will share his story when he's ready, but for now, he needs to deal with what they call a myriad¹¹ of health issues that were brought on - and this is a quote - "by the squalid conditions he was subjected to in his Russian gulag."

MARTIN: So you nodded to this - this was part of a prisoner exchange. Do we know anything more about the Russian man who was also freed?

KELEMEN: Yeah. The U.S. commuted¹² the sentence of Konstantin Yaroshenko. He's a pilot who was serving a 20-year prison term for drug smuggling¹³. Officials say that he paid a steep price and had served a majority of his sentence. But I should point out that it was actually just over half of his prison term that he served. Officials say that it was a tough call to release him. The Russians have been lobbying for his release for a while in proposing prisoner swaps¹⁴. The other man they want back is Viktor Bout⁶, but the U.S. would have a hard time releasing someone like Bout. He's an arms dealer¹⁵ who's known as the Merchant of Death, and his story is much more widely known than Yaroshenko's was.

MARTIN: So, I mean, each case is particular, right? There are different circumstances that lead to someone's detention in a nation-state. I mean, as you noted¹⁶, Trevor Reed was detained initially¹⁷ because of this kind of - he was accused of attacking a Moscow police officer. But does his release signal good news in any way for other Americans who are being detained there - Paul Whelan, who is accused of spying, and most recently, the WNBA star Brittney Griner?

KELEMEN: Right, right. I mean, it's a good sign that the U.S. is - can still talk to Russia about these cases because, you know, the embassy has been very short-staffed, and there are all kinds of problems. But so far, we're told that the talks have not gone beyond these sort of discreet¹⁸ issues about hostages. So hopefully, they can come up with some other deals and prisoner exchanges. But so far, it hasn't gone beyond this.

MARTIN: NPR diplomatic correspondent Michele Kelemen. Thank you so much.

KELEMEN: Thank you.

1 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

2 swap   

n.交换；vt.交换，用...作交易

参考例句：

• I will swap you my bicycle for your radio.我想拿我的自行车换你的收音机。
• This comic was a swap that I got from Nick.这本漫画书是我从尼克那里换来的。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

5 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

6 bout   

n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛

参考例句：

• I was suffering with a bout of nerves.我感到一阵紧张。
• That bout of pneumonia enfeebled her.那次肺炎的发作使她虚弱了。

7 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

8 innocence   

n.无罪；天真；无害

参考例句：

• There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
• The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。

9 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

10 imprisonment   

n.关押，监禁，坐牢

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• He was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for committing bigamy.他因为犯重婚罪被判入狱一年。

11 myriad   

adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量

参考例句：

• They offered no solution for all our myriad problems.对于我们数不清的问题他们束手无策。
• I had three weeks to make a myriad of arrangements.我花了三个星期做大量准备工作。

12 commuted   

通勤( commute的过去式和过去分词 )； 减（刑）； 代偿

参考例句：

• His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment. 他的判决由死刑减为无期徒刑。
• The death sentence may be commuted to life imprisonment. 死刑可能減为无期徒刑。

13 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

14 swaps   

交换( swap的名词复数 )； 交换物，被掉换者

参考例句：

• He swaps his old car for a new motorcycle. 他用旧车换了一辆新摩托车。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 口语
• Swaps the anchor and end points of the current selection. 交换当前所选内容的定位点和结束点。

15 dealer   

n.商人，贩子

参考例句：

• The dealer spent hours bargaining for the painting.那个商人为购买那幅画花了几个小时讨价还价。
• The dealer reduced the price for cash down.这家商店对付现金的人减价优惠。

16 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

17 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

18 discreet   

adj.(言行)谨慎的；慎重的；有判断力的

参考例句：

• He is very discreet in giving his opinions.发表意见他十分慎重。
• It wasn't discreet of you to ring me up at the office.你打电话到我办公室真是太鲁莽了。