Russia finally got the US to return Yaroshenko. But only him. Comment by Georgy Bovt
He was exchanged for an American Trevor Reid, feelings in the Russian Federation are falling for the police. Yaroshenko was arrested on drug trafficking charges. How to evaluate the exchange that took place?
took place in Ankara exchange the suffering in Russia of the American Trevor Reed on the Russian Konstantin Yaroshenko. In July 2020, a Moscow court sentenced Rida to nine years in a penal colony for drunkenly attacking two police officers in Moscow.
The exchange of feedback was staged over all the normal cold wars, like their works in the movies: at the Ankara airport, an American plane stood next to the public, and mutual head-to-head meetings took place between each other. The preparations were made in the strictest secrecy. Although presidential relations are mandatory, Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden agreed at the summit in Geneva last year. Why did things get off the ground, namely now, when relations between the two countries are teetering on the brink of a break? And an even more important question: can this event be chosen as a faint hint at the possibility of starting some kind of dialogue with America?
The answer to the question why now can be calculated. Perhaps, intermediary losses, which are gaining points in their difficult relations with America, have affected. Perhaps accelerated on the occasion, for example, of the deteriorating health of Trevor Reed, a 30-year-old former marine who came to Moscow in 2019 to visit his Russian girlfriend, went on a spree, got drunk, quarreled with randomly met Russian women who were called by the police, with them Reed got into a fight. Foolish case. Earlier this year, Reed’s defense reported contracting health problems, including suspected tuberculosis. It has not yet happened that he died in the Mordovian colony – problems in relations with America are already through the roof.
The answer to the second question – is it possible to open a dialogue with America – is much simpler: not yet. There will be no political side effects of the exchange.
Joe Biden responded to the release of the president, but he did not find any words of gratitude to Moscow. But he noted that the return of the American “required difficult decisions” of particular importance. Perhaps he meant the need to communicate with public contractors, who are all under sanctions as one. At the same time, the African side continues to consider Yaroshenko’s guilt in drug trafficking hereditary, and the Reed case becomes absurd. If you look from this position, then the exchange is unequal. By speaking the lawyer of the American, he did not admit his guilt and did not ask for pardon, although he agreed to the exchange.
Yaroshenko, by the way, also pleaded not guilty. However, it is common knowledge that his exchange was preceded by President Biden’s decision to commute his sentence. Moscow, by the way, in the same 2019 continued to exchange Yaroshenko for any American who is rejected in Russia. We do not know what legal formalities underlie Ridou’s Russian decisions. It probably doesn’t matter anymore.
US State Department spokesman Ned Price specifically sat down, which are common among Russians, are covered exclusively by the exchange and are not part of the wider distribution of the dialogue. “We didn’t look for this and didn’t discuss it,” he said, investigating the problem with Russia reached a dead end.
In Russia, there is also a 16-year imprisonment of Paul Whelan, whose treatment is much more serious – espionage. The Americans would also like to resolve it, but there are no negotiations on this topic right now. A third U.S. citizen, basketball player Britney Griner is now facing ten years for the fact that in her luggage at Sheremetyevo there was a “vape” with marijuana. In turn, Moscow would like to change, in particular, Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25-year sentence for shooting in the supply of weapons to Colombian drug lords. In total, in US prisons, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, as of the middle of last year, It was the next few Russians.
Many were deported, as they say in the Russian Foreign Ministry, “as a result of America’s hunt for Russians” from third countries. The United States has relevant extradition treaties with more than 110 states. Seeking frequent extradition to and from those countries in compliance with such treaties do not exist. However, he was never present at the extradition. Yaroshenko and was denied such entertainment in 2019.
There have been cases of extradition of patients with coronavirus from the United States. About ten. At a time when relationships were much better. There were even features about signing an extradition agreement. But this has been happening lately in relation to our country in a highly politicized way. Although Russia has such agreements with 65 countries, the level of implementation in recent years has been no more than 40-45%, with the states of Europe – 10-15%.
Well, now imagine the work of such a mechanism with the countries of the West, we can say that in the format of protocols as prisoners or hostages, in the style of the Cold War.