MOSCOW. Sept 10 (Interfax) - Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov has denied rumors that U.S. citizen Paul Whelan, who has been convicted by Russia of espionage, could be exchanged for Russian citizens Konstantin Yaroshenko and Viktor Bout convicted in the United States.
"We have never brought up the possibility of 'swapping' the Americans convicted in Russia for the Russians [convicted] in the U.S.," Antonov said in a statement published on the Facebook page of the Russian embassy to the U.S., when commenting on an article published in The New Yorker magazine claiming that Whelan is "trapped between [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and [U.S. President Donald] Trump."
This article "contains a blatant lie", and the only truthful statement in it is that "we are constantly raising the issue of Yaroshenko, Bout, and other Russian inmates in the U.S. in conversations with U.S. officials," Antonov said.
Russia has publicly demanded their release on a number of occasions, and, when they experienced health problems, made demarches, demanding necessary medical care for them (this problem worsened during the Covid-19 pandemic, which also affected U.S. prisons), he said.
In late August, the Russian Defense Ministry denied reports about ongoing negotiations on swapping the U.S. citizens detained in Russia, among them Whelan, for the Russians convicted in the U.S.
"Indeed, there have been regular media publications recently about preparations to exchange American citizens, including Paul Whelan, who was recently convicted in Russia, for Russian citizens being held in U.S. prisons. As has already been noted by senior Russian diplomats, all reports about ostensibly ongoing talks on this score are untrue," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on August 27.
The Moscow City Court earlier found Whelan, who is a citizen of the U.S., Ireland, Canada, and the United Kingdom, guilty of espionage and sentenced him to 16 years in a high-security penitentiary.