Peskov rejected discussing sanctions relief in exchange for the release of political prisoners

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin is not discussing with the US authorities easing sanctions against Russia in exchange for the release of political prisoners. He added that Russian security services continue regular contacts regarding exchanges that have already taken place before.

According to Peskov, as quoted by Interfax, “in this framing, this topic was not discussed and could not be discussed”, because Moscow categorically denies the existence of any political prisoners. He also called such a framing of the question “absolutely inappropriate”.

Earlier, the American magazine The Atlantic reported that US President Donald Trump approved the idea of easing sanctions against Russia in exchange for the release of political prisoners. According to the magazine’s journalist Simon Shuster, this scheme was proposed by US special envoy John Coale.

Shuster wrote that Coale secured the release of about 500 political prisoners in Belarus in exchange for sanctions relief. According to the human rights organization Memorial, there are currently 1,368 names on the list of political prisoners in Russia, but human rights defenders warn that this list is knowingly incomplete.

Sources

• Material: meduza.io