Former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed has been sentenced in absentia by a Russian court to 14 1/2 years in prison, on charges he joined the Ukrainian Army as a mercenary.
The Russian Investigative Committee said on October 9 that Reed enlisted with Ukrainian forces in May 2023 and participated in combat operations in the Donetsk region.
Reed’s participation in the war -- it was reported by some media outlets that he joined the Ukrainian military as a foreign fighter in November 2022 -- became public in July 2023 when he was injured by a mine explosion while fighting for Ukraine.
The U.S. State Department said at that time that he had been transferred to Germany for medical care after being injured.
Reed vaulted into the news in 2020 when he was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison for allegedly assaulting Russian police officers after a traffic stop, a charge he denied.
In April 2022, Reed, who by then had served nearly three years in a Russian prison, was exchanged for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who had been serving a 20-year sentence in the United States for drug trafficking.
Reed's conviction in absentia comes days after two other Americans were convicted and sentenced by Russian courts, fueling concerns over the political motivations behind their detentions amid heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington.
SEE ALSO: 'They Remain In Torturous Conditions': The Prisoners Left Behind In Russia After Historic ExchangeStephen Hubbard, 72, was sentenced by the Moscow City Court on October 7 to six years and 10 months in prison on charges of being a mercenary and fighting against Russia in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Robert Gilman, a 30-year-old former U.S. Marine, was sentenced to seven years and one month in prison for assaulting a prison official and a state investigator.
Gilman, already serving a 3 1/2-year sentence for attacking a police officer in 2022 while intoxicated, allegedly committed the assaults in late 2023 while in custody.
Both cases follow a pattern of high-profile arrests and detentions of Americans in Russia, which many analysts view as part of Moscow's broader strategy to exert pressure on Washington.
The detentions are increasingly being seen as politically motivated, with the potential for these individuals to become bargaining chips in future prisoner swaps.
SEE ALSO: Long Showers. Clean Drinking Water. Long Hugs. Avocados: Alsu Kurmasheva Adjusts To Freedom After Russian PrisonThis comes in the wake of an exchange in August in which three U.S. citizens were released, including RFE/RL's journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, Wall Street Journal Evan Gershkovich, and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, in exchange for Russian prisoners serving sentences in the United States and Europe.
The timing of the sentences coincides with a period of strained U.S.-Russia relations, exacerbated by Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and Western sanctions aimed at weakening Moscow's position.