(Reuters) -Russia and the United States have discussed the possibility of conducting another prisoner exchange, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev told Axios in an interview published on Tuesday.
“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,” Axios quoted Dmitriev as saying.
A U.S. official confirmed his statement and said the U.S. side was receptive, but cautioned that nothing was imminent, Axios said.
President Donald Trump’s administration earlier this year secured the release of Marc Fogel, a U.S. schoolteacher and former employee of the U.S. embassy in Moscow, and Russian-American ballerina Ksenia Karelina.
In August 2024, the U.S. and Russia carried out their biggest prisoner swap since the Cold War, with 24 prisoners gaining their freedom, including U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich and ex-U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.
Dmitriev discussed the idea of the latest swap with U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and other administration officials, the Axios report added, citing a source.
Russia hopes a new prisoner exchange with the U.S. will show goodwill and create more trust between the countries, the report said adding that neither Dmitriev nor the U.S. official said which prisoners on either side could be involved in an exchange.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Conor Humphries)
