Russian pilot who endured prolonged torture in US returns home

The pilot has endured prolonged torture, both physical and psychological, and is now trying to hold Washington accountable for his actions.

Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko returned home after spending some 10 years in a US prison over his alleged involvement in a drug smuggling scheme. Yaroshenko spoke to RT about the horrors he has endured.

I was kidnapped by the US government, their intelligence, the DEA and Liberia s NSA from a hotel on May 28, 2010 and transferred to the NSA s headquarters, Yaroshenko said.

I was tortured for two and a half days in a torture room. It was inhuman torture, physical and psychological, with enormous pressure. At some point, I didn't even want to live, to come to my senses, when I lost consciousness, I didn't want to return into this world, he went on, saying that the agents who tortured him were very good at their job. torture was very brutal and very professional. They knew how to beat, where to beat so that I would be alive, so that after all they could deal with me later. They beat me on the heels, knocked out my teeth, beat off my internal organs, broke the bones in my legs. Liberia eventually handed Yaroshenko over to US Drug Enforcement Administration DEA agents and was secretly transferred to the US. He was jailed for a 20 year period after a US court found him guilty of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States. The torture and years in a US prison have taken a heavy toll on Yaroshenko, who said that only continuous support from his family and Russia has helped him through these hardships.

The Russian government, the Russian president, and the Russian people have faith in each other. Only this faith helped me survive in this very difficult situation, he said.

On Wednesday, Yaroshenko was swapped for US national Trevor Reed, who ended up in Russian custody back in 2019. Reed, a student and ex-US Marine at the time, was arrested in Moscow for drinking and disorderly behavior and assaulting police officers. In 2020 he was given a nine-year term after being found guilty of endangering the life and health of law enforcement personnel.

The Russian pilot has always maintained his innocence, stating that he got caught in the middle of a big political game against Russia.

It was a pure set-up, a provocation that needed only to reach the goals pursued by the American authorities, Yaroshenko stated. The accusations against me are just a smokescreen to cover up the real goals that the US authorities were trying to achieve. In relation to me and perhaps to other citizens like Viktor Bout. Bout is a Russian businessman whose story shares striking similarities to Yaroshenko's hardships. Bout was detained in Thailand in 2008 on the request of US authorities, and was transferred to the US in 2012, where he was sentenced to 25 years in prison over his alleged involvement in a weapons smuggling plot.

Yaroshenko plans to bring the United States and Liberian authorities to justice over the hardships he has endured and the systematic violation of basic human rights he witnessed.

I will try to present all the evidence to prosecute the US government for its acts against me. He said the same applies to the government of Liberia. Yaroshenko plans to start the fight in Russian courts, as the international ones are American puppets that are just rubber-stamping Washington s orders, he said.