Camera installation: Russia and the USA maintain contacts on prisoner exchange

Prisoner exchange is on the agenda of the Russian Federation and the United States. In particular, this topic was discussed at a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in New York, Grigory Karasin, head of the Federation Council's international Affairs committee, told Izvestia. At the same time, it becomes especially important against the background of preparations for a possible meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Budapest. The State Duma emphasizes that any prisoner exchanges are a positive sign and a gesture of goodwill on the part of the states participating in the negotiations. The new exchange could give an additional impetus to the dialogue between the Russian Federation and the United States, according to the expert community.

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Prisoner exchange between Russia and the USA

The prisoner exchange was discussed at talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at a meeting in New York on September 24. This was reported to Izvestia by Grigory Karasin, Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs. The senator attended the talks as a member of the Russian delegation.

— This issue has been discussed, but I am not aware of the continuation of all this. But this does not mean that negotiations are not underway. Contacts are continuing," he said.

Any prisoner exchanges are a positive sign and a gesture of goodwill on the part of the States participating in the negotiations. Therefore, such a humanitarian act would be correct and timely, Maria Butina, a member of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, told Izvestia.

At the same time, she noted that the process of agreeing on specific candidates was slow. She also served an 18-month sentence in an American prison and was released in 2019. She was charged with two counts of conspiring to promote Russian interests in the United States, as well as failing to register as a foreign agent. The Russian side considered the guilty verdict unfair and excessive, and the Russian Embassy in the United States called it blatant lawlessness.

The topic of prisoner exchanges has always been in the focus of attention of the Russian Federation and the United States. This issue is especially important for the White House, says Andrei Kortunov, an expert at the Valdai Club.

— Rescuing their citizens or someone else important to the United States is traditionally considered a major achievement by presidents. And it's no coincidence that even during Joe Biden's time, when relations were very bad, this format was used. Therefore, in principle, the American side is always interested in such exchanges," he explained to Izvestia.

According to him, the new exchange could give an additional impetus to the dialogue between the countries. It is especially relevant against the background of the preparations of the Russian Federation and the United States for a possible summit of the presidents in Budapest.

— It is a symbol of a certain trust in relation to each other, willingness to take into account mutual interests. Therefore, all other things being equal, as an additional element of bilateral relations, this may well continue. And under President Trump, as far as I know, there is some kind of exchange fund, and it will probably be possible to play it here," said Andrei Kortunov.

Who could be exchanged

In 2025, two prisoner exchanges took place. In February, Alexander Vinnik, who was in custody in the United States on charges of laundering funds worth from $4 billion to $9 billion through the BTC-e exchange, was transferred to Russia. Moscow responded by releasing Mark Vogel, an American teacher and former employee of the US Embassy, who was accused of drug smuggling and possession.

In April, another exchange took place. Ksenia Karelina, a citizen of the United States and Russia, who was sentenced to 12 years in a penal colony in a case of treason, returned to the United States. In response, the United States released Artur Petrov, who was accused of supplying American-made microelectronics to Russia in circumvention of sanctions.

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump discussed the topic of prisoner exchange during a telephone conversation in May. At that time, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov reported that the parties were working on a nine-on-nine exchange.

A specific list of people and exchange schemes are known, as a rule, to a narrow circle of people, and information is subject to disclosure only after reaching an agreement. There is no accurate information about the arrested citizens of the Russian Federation in the United States in the public domain. In May, Reuters published a list of nine people whom the Americans want to return as part of the next prisoner exchange. Among them, in particular, Stephen James Hubbard, who was imprisoned for participating in the fighting in Ukraine as a mercenary of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. One of the possible candidates was also US citizen Joseph Tater, who was sentenced to 15 days in prison for insulting the staff of a Moscow hotel in 2024. Later, the media reported that he left Russia in June of this year.

As for the Russians, for example, businessman Maxim Marchenko, who was sentenced to three years in prison in 2023 for supplying microelectronics from the United States to Russia, bypassing sanctions, could be subject to exchange. Another possible candidate could be programmer Alexander Zhukov, who was sentenced to 10 years in 2021 for online advertising fraud. Other possible contenders are businessmen Oleg Patsyulya and Vasily Besedin, who were accused in the United States of allegedly committing sanctions crimes, that is, importing aircraft parts to Russia.

In June of this year, Russian basketball player Daniil Kasatkin was detained in France at the request of the United States. He is suspected of participating in the activities of a hacker network using extortion programs against American companies and federal agencies. The Paris court refused to release him under judicial supervision and informed him that a decision on his extradition would be made on October 29.

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Russia–USA Summit in Budapest

It is not yet clear when the new meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will take place. Last week, the leaders agreed that they were ready to hold talks in Budapest. Hungary said it had already begun preparations for the summit. On October 21, the country's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto arrived in Washington to organize Trump's visit to Budapest.

Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, stated the need for serious preparation of the event.

— Neither President Trump nor President Putin mentioned exact dates. We need preparation, serious preparation. You have heard statements from both the American side and ours that this may take time. Therefore, there were no exact dates set initially," he told reporters on October 21.

Against this background, the Western media began to disperse the thesis that a possible meeting between the presidents of the Russian Federation and the United States could be postponed. Axios even wrote that Trump allegedly has no plans to meet with Putin in the near future. However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied such speculation. In addition, he confirmed on October 21 that Russia's position on Ukraine had not changed after the presidents' talks in Alaska in August. After Vladimir Zelensky's last visit to the United States on October 17, there was renewed talk of the need for a cease-fire along the line of contact. The Russian Foreign Minister noted that an immediate truce in Ukraine would not eliminate the root causes of the conflict.

Earlier, Sergey Lavrov had a telephone conversation with Marco Rubio. The ministers discussed concrete steps to hold talks between the leaders. The Financial Times newspaper reported that a meeting between Lavrov and Rubio could take place in Budapest on October 30. Commenting on this information, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, urged not to participate in the "information farce" around a possible meeting of the foreign ministers of the Russian Federation and the United States.