--- title: "US Navy veteran released by Russia after 9-month detention" description: "U.S. Navy veteran Taylor Dudley was released Thursday after being detained in Russia for the last nine months." date: "2023-01-12" modified: "2023-01-12" authors: - name: "Max Hauptman" job_title: "Breaking News Reporter" link: "https://taskandpurpose.com/authors/max-hauptman/" url: "https://taskandpurpose.com/news/taylor-dudley-navy-veteran-released-russia/" categories: - "Military Branches" - "Navy" - "News" --- # US Navy veteran released by Russia after 9-month detention ![Taylor Dudley Navy veteran Russia released]() *Taylor Dudley, a U.S. Navy veteran detained in Russia since April, 2022, was released on January 12, 2023. (Photo via Jonathan Franks/Twitter)* A U.S. Navy veteran who had been detained in Russia for the last nine months was released Thursday, [CNN first reported](). Taylor Dudley, 35, of Lansing, Michigan, had been held in custody since April in Kaliningrad, the Russian exclave located between Poland and Lithuania. According to Dudley’s service record, he enlisted in the Navy in September 2007 and attended Nuclear Field “A” School in Charleston, South Carolina before being discharged as a seaman apprentice in March 2008. According to [CNN](), Dudley was attending a music festival in Poland when he crossed the border into Russia, although it remains unclear why he did so and the U.S. government had not previously deemed it “wrongful.” A spokesperson for Dudley’s family, Jonathan Franks, told [CNN]() that the Richardson Center — a non-profit organization founded by former New Mexico governor and UN ambassador Bill Richardson that works on freeing American citizens detained abroad, — had led negotiations for Dudley’s release. [**Subscribe to Task & Purpose Today**]()**. Get the latest military news, entertainment, and gear in your inbox daily.** Richardson Center vice president and executive director Mickey Bergman told Task & Purpose that Dudley was released “at the Russia-Poland Bagrationovsk-Bezledy border crossing, and is currently with the Richardson Center team, on his way home, together with his mother Shelley.” “Over the past year, our team traveled to Moscow and the region multiple times, liaising with our Russian counterparts and conduits,” Bergman added. “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.” In the statement, Richardson also acknowledged U.S. State Department officers, James Waterman and Paul Mastin, of the American Citizens’ Services at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow: and James Duke, of the American Citizens’ Services at the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw, in helping to secure Dudley’s release. The U.S. government confirmed Dudley’s release and that it was not made in exchange for the release of any Russian detainees. A government official speaking on the condition of anonymity, though, told the [Washington Post]() that “the U.S. Government has no information about a role played by any outside actor in this case.” “The U.S. Government is focused on providing consular services to Americans,” the official said. We are all grateful to our embassies in Moscow and Warsaw for their long-standing work on this case.” ## The latest on Task & Purpose - **Army general** [**investigated for defending female troops**]() **online retires honorably** - **Marine Corps boots** [**poolee tied to neo-Nazi groups**]() - **Soldier assigned to 7th Special Forces Group** [**charged with killing wife**]() - [**This unusual new Air Force tactic**]() **is likely raising alarms in China, expert says** - **Here’s** [**how Ukraine could use the Bradley Fighting Vehicles**]() **it’s getting from the US, experts say** **Want to write for Task & Purpose?**[ **Click here**]()**.** ## Author Max Hauptman is a former breaking news reporter at Task & Purpose. He previously worked at The Washington Post as a Military Veterans in Journalism Fellow, as well as covering local news in New England. ### Author social links [Twitter]() [Instagram]()