Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Peskov: Russia-US Relations Still “Sad State”


Fri 09 Dec 2022 | 01:35 PM
Omnia Ahmed

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that the Russian-US deal on swapping businessman Viktor Bout for basketball player Brittney Griner did not mark a step towards ending the crisis between the two countries.

“No, [our] bilateral relations are still in quite a sad state,” Peskov said in a comment for the Izvestia daily published on Friday.

He indicated: "These negotiations were exclusively about the topic of the exchange, it is probably wrong to draw any hypothetical conclusions that this could be a step towards a way out of the crisis that we now have in bilateral relations."

When speaking about Bout, Peskov said: "We certainly wish him a speedy recovery."

The Kremlin spokesman declined to disclose the details of the prisoner swap. "It’s absolutely impossible to disclose anything. The process involved the two countries’ intelligence agencies.”

“The main outcome is that the Russian national who actually spent 14 years in US captivity and in completely unlawful confinement, has returned home," he stressed.

Griner, who was given a nine-year sentence for drug possession in August, was traded for Russian arms dealer Bout who was 11 years into a 25-year sentence.

On his part, President Joe Biden thanked the UAE "for helping us facilitate Brittney's return because that's where she landed" en route back to the US.