MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Russian citizen will be returned within days from the United States as part of an exchange deal with the U.S. administration, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday without specifying the name.
The United States is freeing a Russian cybercrime boss, Alexander Vinnik, from prison in return for Moscow’s release of American schoolteacher Marc Fogel, U.S. administration officials said on Wednesday.
A U.S.-based lawyer for Vinnik confirmed on Thursday that Vinnik had landed in Turkey and was expected back in Russia within hours.
The lawyer, Arkady Bukh, credited Vinnik’s release to a successful lobbying effort and the return of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency.
Vinnik pleaded guilty last year to U.S. money laundering charges involving his role overseeing the BTC-e cryptocurrency exchange.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Anastasia Teterevleva and Andrew Goudsward; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Andy Sullivan)
