President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladmir Putin, have agreed to an exchange of prisoners, Russia’s foreign minister said Tuesday.
“President Trump is a man who wants results,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in Turkey, claiming that the American president’s efforts were being “sabotaged” by some European countries as he refered to ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire in Ukraine.
Lavrov did not provide further details on the exchange.
The State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Russia has maintained that it wants to end the war in Ukraine, which began when Putin launched an invasion in 2022, but has not backed off of maximalist demands that Ukraine disarm and handover swathes of territory.
If the deal is confirmed by the State Department and comes to fruition, it will be the first exchange since American teacher Marc Fogel returned to the U.S. in February, having spent 3½ years in prison for a minor medical cannabis infraction. Going the other way in that exchange was convicted money launderer Alexander Vinnik.
The swap came after four U.S. residents wrongly imprisoned in Russia — including journalist Evan Gershkovich and Marine veteran Paul Whelan — were released last August as part of a major multinational prisoner exchange the likes of which had not been seen since the Cold War.
The massive deal, cut among seven nations, involved 24 people, including five Germans and seven Russian citizens held in Russia, and eight Russians imprisoned in the U.S., Germany, Slovenia, Norway and Poland.
A Russian-American woman, former-ballerina Ksenia Karelina, was freed in April this year after being imprisoned for treason by Russia, but no Russian prisoners headed the other way in that release.
