Tara Reade, the former Senate staffer to then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) who accused him of sexual assault, has reportedly defected to Russia, according to The Guardian.

In an interview with a Russian media outlet, Reade expressed concern that she likely would have ended up dead or in prison if she had remained in the U.S. under the current administration of now-President Joe Biden.

Reade, herself a lifelong Democrat, had first come forward during the 2020 election to accuse Biden of having sexually molested her in a deserted hallway of the Senate building in 1993 when she was a young aide serving in the longtime Democratic senator from Delaware's office, but was either ignored or viciously attacked by fellow Democrats and the U.S. mainstream media.

Defected to Russia

The Guardian noted that Reade appears to have support in her defection from Maria Butina, a member of Russia's parliament who was previously imprisoned in the U.S. on charges that she was a Russian spy.

"I'm still kind of in a daze a bit but I feel very good," Reade told Russian news outlet Sputnik. "I feel very surrounded by protection and safety. And I just really so appreciate Maria [Butina] and everyone who's been giving me that at a time when it's been very difficult to know if I'm safe or not."

"I just didn't want to walk home and walk into a cage or be killed, which is basically my two choices," she continued and noted that the decision to defect to Russia "was very difficult. I'm not an impulsive person. I really take my time and sort of analyze data points."

"And from what I could see based on the cases and based on what was happening and sort of the push for them to not want me to testify, I felt that while this election is gearing up and there's so much at stake, I'm almost better off here and just being safe," Reade added. "My dream is to live in both places, but it may be that I only live in this place and that's okay."

Reade recently claimed she was "not suicidal," had offered to testify to Congress

Reade's mention of an unnamed "them" not wanting her to "testify" -- presumably Democrats and the Biden administration -- was likely in reference to arrangements that were allegedly in the works for her to provide a sworn deposition to a Republican-run House committee about what Biden had allegedly done to her roughly 30 years ago.

It was just a few weeks ago in early May, according to Fox News, that Reade had thanked Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL) for extending an invitation for her to testify before the House Oversight Committee at an unspecified future date.

The expression of gratitude toward those members of Congress came amid an otherwise cryptic Twitter post that seemed to suggest that Reade feared for her life and safety because of the pushback she had received from Democrats and the media in response to her allegations against Biden.

"I want to make something clear. If something happens to me, all roads lead to Joe Biden. Joe Biden and DNC political machine threats, bullying and intimidation over the last three years will not work," Reade tweeted on May 8. "I am not suicidal. I should not be under investigation nor am I a foreign agent. I am a private citizen. I was a former staffer of Joe Biden’s that has chosen to step forward to tell the truth."

"The tactics using intimidation and bullying to silence me and suppress me using DOJ and FBI and social media will not work. Leave me alone," she added at that time. "I will testify under oath in Congress if asked to do so and tell what happened and what I know. The Biden corruption must end. Period. Thank you @RepMTG and @mattgaetz for inviting me to testify and caring about the truth!"

Could be granted Russian citizenship by Putin

In the interview with Sputnik, Reade went on to claim -- without naming any names -- that there were a number of other Americans and Europeans who feared for their lives in their home countries and had sought a "safe haven" in Russia from the "accommodating" Kremlin.

The Russian outlet reported that Butina has essentially sponsored Reade and promised to try to get her request for Russian citizenship fast-tracked by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who just last year granted full Russian citizenship to Edward Snowden, the former NSA whistleblower who fled to Russia in search of refuge while facing potential criminal charges for leaking classified information in the U.S.