Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergei Ryabkov, said that Russia and the United States will continue to discuss the issue of prisoner exchange through private channels. He said this in an interview RT Arabic.
As for the exchange of prisoners through private channels, the consideration of relevant issues continues,” he said.
Former US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on the sidelines of the G20 summit discussed The head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has asked Sergei Lavrov to accept Washington’s prisoner exchange offer for the release of US citizen Paul Whelan, convicted of espionage in Russia.
In addition, the US Secretary of State urged Russia to reverse its decision to suspend participation in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). Blinken and Lavrov reportedly spoke for less than 10 minutes at the margins of the G20.
Prior to this, Lavrov had stated that the purpose of the US Secretary of State’s visits to Central Asian countries was to disrupt good neighborly relations between these countries and the Russian Federation.