Moscow court rejects appeal by Trevor Reed, American ex-Marine held 'hostage' by Russia

A Moscow court rejected an appeal by Trevor Reed one of two American former Marines the U.S. says Russia is holding hostage on trumped up charges.

A Moscow court has rejected an appeal from one of two former Marines who U.S. officials believe Russia is holding hostage and whose cases have become the focus of a potential prisoner swap between the two countries. Trevor Reed and another ex-Marine, Paul Whelan, have spent about two years in detention in Russia on separate charges U.S. officials say were fabricated to seize them as bargaining chips. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the Americans’ cases during their summit in Switzerland this month, after which the Kremlin signaled it might be prepared to discuss a deal for their release. Reed, 29, had appealed a nine-year prison sentence that he received last July in a trial denounced by the U.S.