President Vladimir Putin’s economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev told Axios on Tuesday that he had discussed a potential prisoner swap between Moscow and Washington during a meeting with White House officials last month.
“I met some U.S. officials and members of the Trump team on some issues that are humanitarian in nature, such as possible exchanges of prisoners that the U.S. side has been working on,” Dmitriev told Axios in a phone interview.
Dmitriev, who traveled to the United States in late October, apparently discussed the idea of a prisoner swap with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, along with other unidentified administration officials.
A U.S. official confirmed to Axios that the idea of a prisoner exchange was discussed during the meeting and that the White House welcomed the proposal, but no agreement was reached and “nothing was imminent.”
Moscow is hoping to “show goodwill and create more trust” with the United States amid stalled negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine, Axios quoted an anonymous source with knowledge of the matter as saying.
American officials had earlier this year given their counterparts in Moscow a list of nine U.S. citizens they want released from Russian captivity, Reuters reported in May. As of now, eight are thought to still be held in Russia.
Dmitriev, who heads Russia’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, as well as the unnamed U.S. officials, did not tell Axios which prisoners on either side might be included in a future exchange between the two countries.
Since taking office in January, Trump and his administration have negotiated the release of former U.S. Embassy employee Marc Fogel and U.S.-Russian dual national Ksenia Karelina.
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