A North Texan continues to languish in a Russian Jail as tensions rise in the region.
30-year-old Trevor Reed of Fort Worth has been detained since August of 2019 after a drunken altercation at a party. He was given a nine year sentence.
Reed's congressman, August Pfluger, says his constituent is being kept in an isolated prison reserved for the worst criminals on a completely trumped up charge. He says the Russians have taken a page out of a playbook they've used over and over and it may be harder than ever to get Reed released. "With Ukraine, it seems a lot of the leverage and momentum that the president of the United States had might be overshadowed by this latest move from Putin to engage in war."
Pfluger says Reed has never received medical care in prison. He had COVID-19. Jason Rebholz, a spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Moscow tweeted "In December #TrevorReed had prolonged exposure to another prisoner with active tuberculosis." It is believed Reed has been coughing up blood. Pfluger says "this is just an outrage to think than in 2022, Vladamir Putin is holding a political prison and he won't give him medical care for tuberculosis or anything that Trevor needs." He says the other prisoner was treated.
He says he spoke to Secretary of State Antony Blinken two weeks ago and asked him about Reed. "He said it's on my mind every day. I believe that, I believe it is on his mind. But we know what Putin has done in the past. We know who he is at the core. We know what he will do. This does not surprise me."
He is asking President Biden to be as strong as he can to get Reed home as soon as possible.
Paul Whelan, another former Marine is also being imprisoned in Russia. There's a belief the Russians are holding them in hopes of trading for the release of Russian assets from U.S. custody.
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