An American who was held by Russian forces for more than a month tasted freedom following being rescued with the help of the “Project Dynamo” organization, according to the network.Fox News“American.
Russian forces arrested Kirlio Alexandrov, 27, while he was trying to flee with his wife and mother-in-law from their home in the outskirts of Kherson, southern Ukraine, in late March, and was accused of espionage.
Alexandrov was subjected to intense interrogation by Russian forces.
He arrived in Poland on Wednesday, looking exhausted. “I’d like to tell everyone to go back to their families. A lot of these Russians won’t understand, and a lot of these Ukrainians won’t,” he told CNN.
“Fox News” said that US officials expected that Alexandrov would be transferred to Moscow, and tried on more than 12 charges of spying for the US government, and that he was likely to face imprisonment for more than 20 years.
Brian Stern, director of Project Dynamo and a retired soldier who fought in Afghanistan and helped clear the rubble following 9/11, said rescuing Alexandrov was the “most difficult” task in his nearly 20 years of experience.
“It was without a doubt the most difficult operation I’ve ever done,” Stern added. “It was a prison break without prison… from terrible people who end up as war criminals.”
Details of the rescue operation were not made public, but Stern noted that it required the cooperation of a team of people spread across the United States, Poland, Ukraine and Romania.
Alexandrov’s mother had reached out to the organization to help save her son, and she was among the first to receive him in Poland.
The organization said in a statement that the negotiations with the Russian kidnappers lasted for more than a month, before contacts were delayed and time was running out.
Project Dynamo added that a “window of opportunity opened” for the team, which took advantage of it to “support its capabilities and implement the process.”
It was not clear where Alexandrov was captured by Moscow’s forces, but Project Dynamo confirmed that he was in a position 60 miles (96.5 km) behind the front lines, in an area under the control of Russian forces surrounded by mines.
When asked by the network regarding his aspirations for the future, Alexandrov replied: “I just want to go home, I can’t even think regarding what might happen in the next hour or next day.”
It is noteworthy that the “Project Dynamo” organization has contributed to the evacuation of hundreds of Ukraine, since Russia launched its military offensive on February 24.
