During CNN’s live broadcast Bill Richardson thanked Ara Abrahamyan for the realization of pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko’s exchange with Trevor Reed.
Spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Maria Zakharova said that Yaroshenko’s return is “a miracle”. She added that Russia struggled for him for 12 years.
During CNN’s live broadcast famous American politician Bill Richardson (former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., governor of New Mexico and the head of the “Richardson” company) commented upon the exchange and personally thanked Ara Abrahamyan for his assistance in this process.
On April 27th pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who has spent more than 10 years in American prison and could spend as much there, returned to his homeland, despite the fact that Moscow has insisted on his release for years.
Being a pilot of civil aviation, 53-year-old Yaroshenko worked in several African countries by contract. There he transported goods and did public conveyance. But in 2010 he was arrested by Liberian secret services and was extradited to the USA. In 2014 condemned Yaroshenko sent a letter to Vladimir Putin asking him to raise his “return to homeland“ question during the talks with the then USA President Barack Obama.
In May of 2017 Tatyana Moskalkova, RF’s ombudsman, sent an application to Donald Trump asking him to grant Yaroshenko an amnesty. In July Yarohenko himself sent a letter to the USA President with a title saying “This call to Donald Trump is my last chance to return to Russia sober-minded.”
28-year-old Trevor Reed, with whom Yaroshenko was exchanged, is a former marine, who came to Russia with touristic visa, to his Russian bride. He was arrested in Moscow in 2019 for attacking Russian policemen in a drunken state. After a 11-month detention he was sentenced to a 9-year imprisonment.
Ara Abrahamyan, President of the Union of Armenians in Russia, UNESCO’s Good Will Ambassador has always had a hand in saving people’s lives. There are many examples : the Armenian pilots, rescued from Equatorial Guinea in 2005, Russian soldiers and others.