Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov is meeting with White House officials today to discuss prisoners. It comes after news that the heads of the American and Russian secret services, the CIA and FSB, held a secret meeting in the Turkish capital on Monday.
Russian and U.S. officials in Washington are reportedly set to discuss today the treatment of Russians in American prisons, according to the Russian embassy in D.C. The Russian embassy said Ambassador Antonov will “raise the issue of softening the conditions of detention of Russians in U.S. prisons” at his meeting at the White House.
On Monday in Turkey, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns met with Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence service, to discuss U.S. prisoners in Russia among other issues.
A White House official said the purpose of Burns’ meeting with Naryshkin was to caution Russia about the consequences of any use of nuclear weapons, as well as to raise the issue of U.S. prisoners in Russia.
There is speculation about prisoner exchanges between the U.S. and Russia.
Washington has offered to exchange Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States, for U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner, sentenced to nine years in a penal colony on charges of possessing marijuana oil in her suitcase.
Another Russian prisoner in the U.S. expected to be involved in potential swaps would be Roman Seleznev, the son of Russian lawmaker Valery Seleznev, who was sentenced in 2017 to 27 years in prison for his role in a cyber assault.
Russian newspaper Izvestia cited Seleznev’s lawyer in August as saying that Seleznev would be an “ideal candidate” for a potential prisoner exchange between Moscow and Washington, that has been negotiated between the two countries.
News of meetings between the U.S. and Russia comes amid fear from Kyiv that the U.S. and Russia will engage in peace talks.
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