A U.S. Marine veteran who was held in Russia for nearly a year was released from Russian custody Thursday, his family’s spokesman told CNN, after months of negotiations by former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson.
Taylor Dudley, 35, of Lansing, Michigan, was detained in April 2022 by Russian border patrol police after crossing from Poland into Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave that is territory ruled by Moscow between Poland and Lithuania. He was in Poland to attend a music festival, and it is not clear why he crossed the border.
Dudley’s detention – which the US government did not consider “wrongful”, or based on arbitrary and discriminatory motivations – was not widely publicized before Thursday because his family wanted negotiations for his release to remain private.
The Richardson Center for Global Engagement, a non-profit founded by Richardson, led the negotiations, family spokesman Jonathan Franks told CNN. The former governor and diplomat has long worked to free Americans detained abroad, and his center played a role in the release of Trevor Reed, a U.S. citizen and former Marine who was wrongfully detained in Russia last summer. was held to secure.
No exchange was made on the U.S. side for Dudley, said Mickey Bergman, vice president and executive chairman of the center.
The Steve Menzies Global Foundation and the US Embassy also helped secure Dudley’s release, Franks said.
“Earlier today, Russian authorities released American citizen Taylor Dudley, a 35-year-old Navy veteran, across the Polish border to Governor Bill Richardson, his team, and a representative of the US Embassy in Warsaw, a release from Richardson Center worked diligently and quietly for more than 6 months with significant help from the Steve Menzies Global Foundation, Hostage U.S., and the James Foley Foundation. The family will be forever grateful for the work of all three.
“The last 9 months have been difficult for the family and they ask the media to respect their privacy and give them the space to welcome Taylor home,” he added.
In a separate statement to CNN, Richardson said Dudley was released on Thursday after nearly a year of negotiations at the Russia-Poland Bagrationovsk-Bezledy border crossing. He also acknowledged the involvement of the State Department and the US embassies in Moscow and Warsaw to help secure Dudley’s release.
“After six months of intense work, it’s great to see this release from Taylor Dudley,” Richardson told CNN by phone on Thursday. “We worked hard on it in Moscow and Kaliningrad and first brought it up during our meetings with Russian officials about Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan and Trevor Reed.”
US citizens Griner and Reed have since been released, but Whelan is still in Russian custody. Richardson said he and his team were still “pushing forward” in negotiations with Russia to secure Whelan’s release.
“There are many low-profile Americans who also deserve freedoms,” Richardson said. “In other words, there are many around the world who don’t have fame, but who still deserve America’s support.”
US-Russia relations are at an all-time low amid Moscow’s war in Ukraine and US sanctions on the Kremlin.
Several U.S. citizens remain detained in Russia, including Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who is described as wrongfully detained. He was arrested in Russia in December 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Last year, the United States offered to trade Whelan and Griner, an American basketball star, in a prisoner swap for arms dealer Viktor Bout, but Russia only agreed to release Griner.
This story has been updated with additional information.
