Russia Releases US Navy Veteran Taylor Dudley After Almost a Year in Custody

Taylor Dudley (L) and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson hold a news conference at the National Press Club one day after Richardson helped negotiate Dudley's release from a prison in Kaliningrad, Russia, in Washington, DC. on January 13, 2023. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

U.S. Navy veteran Taylor Dudley, who had been detained in Russia for nine months, was released on Thursday and was handed over to U.S. custody in Poland, according to former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson.

Dudley, from Lansing, Michigan, was taken into custody by Russian border patrol police in April 2022 after crossing from Poland into Kaliningrad, a Russian province sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, and is the headquarters of the Russian navy’s Baltic Fleet.