WATCH: State Department speak on Russia’s release of U.S. Navy veteran

The State Department was tight-lipped about an American citizen who was deported from Russia after apparently illegally crossing into Russia from Poland last year and held for nine months. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said the department was constrained in what it could say about the case due to privacy concerns.

Watch Price’s remarks in the player above.

Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson announced that Taylor Dudley, a U.S. Navy veteran had been handed over to U.S. custody in Poland on Thursday.

Richardson said the U.S. embassies in Warsaw and Moscow had played a role in securing Dudley’s release and even mentioned several diplomats who worked on the matter by name.

Unlike in high-profile previous releases by Russia of imprisoned Americans — like WNBA star Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed — there was no swap for Dudley, who was never considered by the U.S. to have been wrongfully detained.

Dudley, 35, was reported missing last year by authorities in Lansing, Michigan. A spokesman for his family said Dudley had traveled to Europe to backpack, had gone to Poland for a music festival and at some point crossed into Kaliningrad and was detained in April, 2022.

Richardson, who has worked on behalf of the families of numerous Americans detained overseas, said the work to get Dudley released had taken more than six months and was “done discreetly and with engagement on the ground in both Moscow and Kaliningrad and with full support from Taylor’s family back in the United States.”

WATCH: U.S. Navy veteran kidnapped, held hostage by Taliban describes experience

Price also commented on developments in Ukraine after Russia’s Defense Ministry said that Gen. Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, was named the new commander of the unified group of forces in Ukraine.

The move that appears to reflect the Kremlin’s dissatisfaction with the current leadership and flaws in the military’s performance.

“The broader dynamic, the underlying dynamic is not going to change,” Price said.

The previous commander, Gen. Sergei Surovikin, was demoted to become Gerasimov’s deputy along with two other generals.

Finally, Price also condemned a bombing attack in Kabul that killed at least five people and injured many more.

The Islamic State of Khorasan Province group, referred to by Price as ISIS-K, claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s deadly bombing. It was the second major attack in Kabul in 2023 and drew condemnation from the international community.

The extremist group said in a statement that a “martyrdom-seeker” it identified as Kheiber al-Qandahari detonated his explosive vest amidst a gathering of ministry employees and guards as they left through the ministry’s main gate.

There was no immediate response from Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers about the claim.