Russia and the United States have discussed the possibility of another prisoner exchange, Russian presidential special envoy Kirill Dmitriyev said in an interview with Axios. The source confirmed to the publication that Dmitriev had talked about this with US presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff.
A possible prisoner exchange was one of the items on the agenda during Dmitriev’s visit to the US on 24-26 October. According to the Axios source, Russia hopes that the new exchange will strengthen trust between the countries.
A U.S. official told the publication that the talks were positive, but no agreements were reached.
Neither side has specified which prisoners might be included in the lists for a possible exchange. At least eight Americans are now behind bars in Russia.
Earlier this year, Russia released American prisoner Mark Vogel, convicted on drug smuggling charges, and Ksenia Karelina, convicted in a treason case. In exchange, the United States released Russian businessman Alexander Vinnik, accused of money laundering over the crypto exchange VTS-e, and Artur Petrov, who was arrested in Cyprus in 2023 at the request of the United States on charges of supplying microelectronics to Russia to circumvent sanctions.
The Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Hershkovich, former Marine Paul Whelan and basketball player Brittney Greiner were also released during the prisoner swaps.