A few days ago, an article appeared regarding a U.S. citizen, Joseph Tater, having left Russia after a detention of nearly a year on charges of “petty hooliganism,” which he denied, and later also of using violence against a police officer in connection with an incident in a Moscow hotel in August of 2024. Following a court hearing in April of this year, he was transferred to a psychiatric hospital treatment for treatment.

According to Russian news agency TASS, Tater was discharged on June 6th because “the clinic had no reason to keep [him] and released him for outpatient treatment.” [RFE/RL, June 6, 2025.]

I had first read about Tater’s plight following his removal to the hospital, and commented on it on April 6th of this year, as follows:

“[Tater] was arrested in August of 2024 following a confrontation in an upscale Moscow hotel (unnamed). He allegedly became abusive and ‘behaved aggressively’ when asked to see his documents. He was refused accommodation at the hotel, and police were called; he later is said to have grabbed the arm of a police officer, which constitutes assault. [Associated Press, April 6, 2025.]

“According to Russia’s TASS news agency, at a court hearing in September, Tater claimed to have come to Russia seeking political asylum because he was being persecuted by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). He was scheduled to stand trial on April 14th of this year on charges of assaulting a police officer, which carries a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment. [Id.]

“The tale gets a big murky here. A Moscow court has ordered Tater admitted “non-voluntarily” to a psychiatric hospital on the basis of a medical evaluation on March 15th, when doctors described him as displaying signs of ‘tension, impulsivity, persecutory delusions, and lack of self-awareness regarding his condition.’ [Id.]

“Yet TASS had previously reported that he had been released from pretrial detention at the end of March. The two reports are obviously contradictory, and it is unclear when the court’s decision was actually rendered, or whether he ever was released at all.In any event, Tater is reportedly now living in the hell of a Russian psychiatric ward — a common practice in Soviet times that, according to human rights groups, is being increasingly employed by Vladimir Putin’s regime. His defense attorney has appealed his hospitalization on the grounds that it is an attempt to ‘isolate the defendant from society.’ [Id.]”

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But you haven’t heard the strangest part yet. The recent article concerning his release from the psychiatric hospital “for outpatient treatment” then states — again according to TASS — that “Tater was no longer in Russia but that his current whereabouts were unclear.” [RFE/RL, op.cit.]

To muddy the waters still further, there has been no immediate comment by either the U.S. Embassy in Moscow or the State Department in Washington. However, a Kremlin source is quoted as saying that Tater was one of nine Americans being held in Russia that the U.S. wanted returned in a prisoner exchange as reportedly discussed between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump on May 20th. [Id.]

So the question remains: Where is Joseph Tater? If he’s not in a Russian prison or psychiatric hospital — in fact, not in Russia at all — and hasn’t been traded in order to return home to the U.S., then what has happened to him?

The Russian judicial system does not release foreign prisoners to wander the streets without a pre-arranged destination. If he has been receiving “outpatient treatment,” his whereabouts should be known. And if he is in U.S. custody, then the State Department should have an answer. Either he is still in Russia, or he isn’t.

There may, of course, be a logical explanation. I only hope it is a favorable one for Mr. Tater.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
6/10/25