MOSCOW. May 16 (Interfax) - Moscow sees no subject for discussion in the context of a reported possibility of easing anti-Russian sanctions for a prisoner swap with the United States, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
"We do not discuss matters related to the U.S. sanctions policy for principled considerations," Ryabkov told reporters in response to a relevant question.
According to him, the U.S. restrictions on Russia "are of unlawful nature" and are dictated by the anti-Russian course of U.S. elites.
"Therefore, there is absolutely no subject for discussion in this case," Ryabkov said.
"If somebody in Washington plans to throw in the subject as rhetorical bait, and they do it bashfully, mentioning 'a slight easing of the sanctions' so that, God forbid, not to sell it cheap - this kind of genre will lead to nothing but rejection and clearly has nothing to do with a hypothetical exchange of U.S. citizens for our compatriots incarcerated in the United States," Ryabkov said.