Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday confirmed that negotiations are underway on a potential prisoner swap with the U.S. but said “no concrete result” had been reached yet, the Daily Beast reports.
“The issue of a mutual exchange of Russian and American citizens located in detention facilities in the two countries was discussed at one time by the presidents of Russia and the United States. They gave instructions to the relevant authorities to carry out negotiations. They are underway by the competent agencies,” Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry, said in a statement. She did not specify which prisoners were at the center of negotiations, but her comments came a day after the Biden administration proposed exchanging notorious Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout for Americans Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan.
