Russia frees US Navy veteran held quietly for 9 months

Russia has released a navy veteran detained since April in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave between Poland and Lithuania, a spokesman for his family said Thursday, marking the second times in just over a month that an American has been released from Russian custody.

Russian authorities have cleared 35-year-old US citizen Taylor Dudley , to cross the Polish border. Mr. Dudley was detained for nine months, the spokesperson said, although his case is largely unknown to those outside the US government, his family and his lawyers.

Mr. Dudley was welcomed to Poland by an official from the United States Embassy in Warsaw and by Bill Richardson, a former congressman and governor of New Mexico who specializes in negotiating the freedom of Americans detained abroad.

Mr. Dudley was backpacking in Europe and had traveled to Poland to attend a music festival, according to spokesman Jonathan Franks. He said Mr Dudley "at one point crossed the Russian border" in Kaliningrad. It remains unclear why Mr. Dudley entered Russian territory and on what charges he may have been detained.

There was no evidence that his fate had become linked to that of former US Navy and corporate security consultant Paul Whelan, who was arrested in Moscow in December 2018 and convicted of espionage. Mr Whelan, his family and US officials insist the charges are fabricated.

Still, the release was remarkable given the extremely strained relationship between Washington and Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine. nearly a year ago, and the extreme difficulty the Biden administration faced in freeing other Americans detained in Russia.

This also happened produced less than five weeks after Russia released WNBA star Brittney Griner in a prisoner swap that freed Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout from federal prison. But a US official said that in this case the Biden administration gave nothing to Russia in exchange for Mr Dudley's release.

Ned Price, the State Department spokesman, told reporters at a daily briefing that his ability to comment was limited by a privacy law that a person must waive to allow the State Department to disclose. information about his case.

Mr. Richardson said in a statement that he had worked "quietly" with Mr Dudley's family for around six months to secure his release, as well as with US State Department officials and Ara Abramyan, a state man. business close to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, among others.

"It is significant that despite the current environment between our two countries, the Russian authorities have done what 'it was necessary by releasing Taylor today,' Mr. Richardson said in a statement.

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The US official, speaking on condition of anonymity in because of the sensitivity of the case, credited the work of US embassy officials in Warsaw and Moscow, but said the administration would not provide further details, out of consideration for the family's privacy. authorities had not made Mr. Dudley's case public or declared that he was "wrongfully detained", as they did for Ms. Griner and continue to do for Mr. Whelan.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The circumstances of his trip to Kaliningrad, a vestige of the Russian conquest during the Second World War where Moscow maintains...