US Navy veteran freed from Russian custody: Statement

WASHINGTON

US Navy soldier Taylor Dudley, who was arrested while crossing from Poland to Kaliningrad, Russia last April, has been released, according to a statement Thursday.

He was released after negotiations with Russia by the Richardson Center for Global Engagement, a non-profit center founded by former Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson.

"Governor Bill Richardson and the Richardson Center are thrilled to announce that Navy veteran, Taylor Dudley, has been released from Russia today, January 12, 2023, at the Russia-Poland Bagrationovsk-Bezledy border crossing," Mickey Bergman, the center’s vice president, said in a statement to Anadolu.

Dudley "is currently with the Richardson Center team, on his way home, together with his mother Shelley," it said.

"Governor Richardson and the Richardson Center have been working closely with Taylor’s family -- his mother, Shelley; his brother, Louis; and his aunt, Jennifer -- over the last six months, in the efforts that led to his release and safe return home," it said. "The negotiations and work to secure Taylor’s safe return were done discreetly and with engagement on the ground in both Moscow and Kaliningrad and with full support from Taylor’s family back in the United States."

Dudley, 35, from the state of Michigan, was held by Russian border patrol police after crossing from Poland to the Kaliningrad region between Lithuania and Poland.

It remains unknown why Dudley, who was in Poland to attend a music festival, crossed the border.