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'Ball in US court' after Russia makes prisoner swap offers — senior diplomat

"We consider our position absolutely justified, reasonable and balanced," Sergey Ryabkov noted

MOSCOW, June 19. /TASS/. Moscow is waiting for Washington to respond to its proposals on possible prisoner swaps, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview with TASS.

"I am not authorized to go into details, but let’s put it this way: according to diplomatic protocols, there is a notion of ‘the ball being in somebody’s court.’ In this situation, the ball is on the US’ side, we are expecting a response from them to those ideas that were conveyed to them," the senior Russian diplomat said. "They are well-known to relevant agencies in the US administration. I realize that, probably, something in these ideas does not suit the Americans, but that's their problem," he added.

"We consider our position absolutely justified, reasonable and balanced. We hope that it will be treated as such," Ryabkov added.

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