Speaking for the Kremlin, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said Russian intelligence services maintain regular contacts with their U.S. counterparts on prisoner exchanges, but that no talks have taken place on trading sanctions relief for the release of detainees.
"As for the various exchanges that have taken place before, our special services continue regular contacts on this matter," Peskov said. He added that the Kremlin considers the framing of the question inappropriate.
The Atlantic reported a day earlier that U.S. President Donald Trump had approved the idea of easing part of the sanctions against Russia in exchange for the release of political prisoners. The initiative was proposed by John Cole, a special representative of the U.S. president who previously took part in negotiations with Alexander Lukashenko over the release of prisoners in Belarus.
According to The Atlantic, the idea's driving force was Dmitry Muratov, former editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. In the spring he met with Cole in Washington, showed him photographs of Russian political prisoners and proposed drawing on the experience of the U.S. negotiations with Belarus.
After that meeting Cole presented the idea to Trump, who supported it. The list of prisoners for possible release was to be drawn up with Muratov's involvement and was expected to include opponents of the war, journalists and people convicted over statements against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In parallel, Washington is considering the possibility of resuming economic cooperation with Moscow, including deals involving Russian oil, diesel fuel and rare earth metals. According to The Atlantic, the plan remains at an early stage.
Human rights organizations regularly designate as political prisoners Russians convicted over anti-war statements and criticism of the authorities. The European Union applies the term in particular to Alexei Gorinov, Pavel Kushnir, Mikhail Kriger and Maria Ponomarenko. In February 2026 the EU imposed sanctions on Russian judges, prosecutors and prison officials involved in their prosecution and detention.