Trevor Reed, a former US Marine detained in Russia, began a hunger strike on November 9 to protest his incarceration and treatment in a Russian jail, according to his family.

According to Reuters, the Kremlin declined to comment.

The Russian Federal Penitentiary Service denied that Reed wasn’t eating, telling the state news agency TASS: “The information published in the media about the inmate Trevor Reed’s hunger strike does not correspond with the reality. He did not address a statement declaring a hunger strike to the administration of the facility, he is taking food according to the daily schedule.”

That claim is likely false.