MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/. No concrete result has been achieved as of yet at negotiations on the prisoner swap between Russia and the US, the interests of both sides should be taken into account, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a commentary circulated on Thursday.
"The issue of the mutual exchange of Russian and American citizens jailed on the territory of the two countries, was discussed at some point by the presidents of Russia and the United States. They gave instructions to the relevant authorities to carry out negotiations. They are being conducted by the competent agencies. No concrete result has been reached yet. That said, we go on a premise that the interests of both sides must be taken into account during the process of negotiations," the diplomat said.
Earlier, CNN reported referring to its sources that US President Joe Biden had supported the plan to swap Russian national Viktor Bout for American nationals Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, and that the offer had been sent to Russia in June. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, for his part, said on Wednesday that he intended to discuss the release of jailed US nationals in a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, scheduled within a few days.