US Navy veteran arrives in Poland after months in Russian detention

A US Navy veteran has arrived in Poland after spending months in captivity in Russia, the CNN broadcaster has reported.

Taylor Dudley, a 35-year-old former US serviceman, was detained by a Russian border patrol in the Kaliningrad enclave, a Russian region sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, in April 2022.

Dudley had earlier attended a music festival in Poland and it was not clear why he crossed the Russian border.

His detention had not been widely publicised because his family wanted the negotiations for his release to remain private, CNN wrote on its website on Thursday.

"Earlier today, Russian authorities released American Citizen Taylor Dudley, a 35-year-old Navy veteran, across the Polish border to Gov. Bill Richardson, his team, and a representative from the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, a release the Richardson Center worked on diligently and quietly for more than 6 months with significant assistance from the Steve Menzies Global Foundation, from Hostage U.S., and from the James Foley Foundation," CNN quoted family spokesperson Jonathan Franks as saying.

Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who led the negotiations with the Russians, told CNN that Dudley had been released 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 in helping to secure Dudley’s release.

A White House official said in a statement: "The Biden Administration is grateful for the work of Consular Affairs, Embassy Warsaw and Embassy Moscow that led to the resolution reached in this case. Out of consideration for the privacy of the family, we will not have further details to share at this time."