Officers in Moscow will pursue additional prisoner change talks with the US following an trade previous this week, the top of Russia’s International Intelligence Carrier (SVR) informed state media Friday.
“Discussion with the brand new U.S. management will for sure proceed in quite a lot of spaces, together with the problem you discussed,” SVR Director Sergei Naryshkin informed journalists when requested about the opportunity of long run exchanges.
On Thursday, Russia launched U.S.-Russian twin nationwide Ksenia Karelina in trade for Arthur Petrov, a German-Russian twin nationwide arrested in Cyprus in 2023 on the request of U.S. government for allegedly exporting delicate U.S.-made microelectronics to Russia.
The CIA performed a central position in brokering Thursday’s trade, in keeping with the Wall Side road Magazine, which first broke the tale. CIA Director John Ratcliffe was once mentioned to have carried out negotiations with FSB head Alexander Bortnikov and was once provide on the Abu Dhabi airport for the handover.
Ratcliffe had reportedly spoken more than one instances with Naryshkin since changing into CIA director underneath the Trump management, WSJ reported.
Naryshkin’s feedback on Friday got here as U.S. President Donald Trump’s particular envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Russia for reported talks with President Vladimir Putin.
In February, Witkoff was once all for negotiations to liberate Marc Fogel, an American instructor jailed in Russia on drug fees, in go back for Russian cryptocurrency determine Alexander Vinnik. The Trump management hailed the discharge of Fogel as a favorable step for international relations.
