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American Morning
Russia Frees American John Tobin
Aired August 03, 2001 - 11:38 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Russia freed American John Tobin from prison today. The 24-year-old Fulbright scholar was studying in Russia when he was arrested in January on a drug charge. Russia later accused of him of being a spy in training, although no espionage charges were brought against him. Tobin did serve six months of a one-year sentence, and he became eligible for parole yesterday. a judge remarked that Russia had to -- quote -- get rid of this headache, perhaps referring to strain this has caused between Washington and Moscow.
Connecticut Congressman Jim Mahoney had pressed the Russians for Tobin's freedom, and he joins us in Washington.
Good morning, sir. Thank you for coming in this morning to tell us about this story.
Where exactly is Mr. Tobin right now.
REP. JIM MAHONEY (D), CONNECTICUT: Jack is in the process of being escorted by staff from the United States embassy back to the embassy in Moscow. We expect him to arrive in Moscow Russian time tomorrow.
HARRIS: And then what happens, does he have any other responsibilities there to authorities in Moscow, or is he free to leave there immediately?
MAHONEY: No. First of all, that would be middle of the weekend. He does need to secure a Russian exit visa. The embassy will be working with him to do that. We anticipate that it will take between two to four days to get that done. Obviously, we are going to continue to work to try to expedite that, but I would expect earliest that Jack could be on a plane back to the United States would be Tuesday, but certainly we hope by the end of the week at the latest.
HARRIS: As I remember the details of this story, he was arrested in some town outside -- it was not Moscow, it some other town in...
MAHONEY: City of Veronish.
HARRIS: Veronish, there you go. Thank you very much.
And he had on his person a matchbox with some marijuana in it, and this was somehow trumped up to a charge of drug trafficking, is that happened there?
MAHONEY: Well, there whole series of charges brought that wouldn't been 20 years in jail.
HARRIS: Along with spying, I should add as well, correct?.
MAHONEY: Yes, the local office of FSB, which is the successor to the KGB, Russian secret police, said he was a spy in training. Jack's version of events as we understand it from e-mail that as sent by Jack to the Fulbright program and released to us by the State Department, is the Russians were attempting to entice him to become a spy against the United States, and then use the threat, and ultimately filing of drug charges as a coercion to try to force him to become a spy. Jack stood up to that.
HARRIS: Let me ask you about this quote we have here from a Russian judge, saying, "by getting rid of this headache." What do you make of that? And what was it that actually broke up the logjam in this case?
MAHONEY: Well, I think his headache arises from the pounding that we have been giving to get Jack released. There's been multiple telephone calls to the State Department, to the White House, to the National Security, to the Russian embassy, to the U.S. embassy. Both Jack's dad and I have been to Moscow. His mother went to Moscow as well. What finally I think moved it we were able to push the White House to get President Bush to raise the Tobin issue with President Putin a week ago Sunday at the summit meeting in Genoa. And that happened a week ago Sunday. Later that week, the warden of the prison turned around, saying, well, Jack will be eligible for parole soon, I think that's a good idea said the warden. And then earlier this week, we had the commission, the parole board agree to that. And then today of course, we had the court agree to it and Jack actually released.
HARRIS: Congressman Maloney, we sure thank you for explaining it all us, and we'd like to see Jack when he gets back, and we'll talk with him, and you again as well.
MAHONEY: We are all looking very much forward to Jack's return to the United States. Thank you.
HARRIS: thank you very much.
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