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Biden says he hopes Russia will be ready to discuss prisoner swap after US election

The US President did not specify what "alternative possible ways forward" related to the exchange of prisoners, Washington offered Russia

WASHINGTON, November 10. /TASS/. The United States hopes that Russia will be ready to negotiate a possible prisoner exchange more seriously after the US election, US President Joe Biden told a news conference on Wednesday.

"My hope is, now that the election is over, that Mr. Putin will be able to discuss with us and be willing to talk more seriously about prisoner exchange," he said. "That is my intention. <…> We had a number of discussions so far.

"I am hopeful that now that our election is over there is a willingness to negotiate more specifically with us," he added.

When asked if he could clarify which "alternative potential ways forward" related to prisoner exchange Washington had proposed to Russia and how Russia responded, he said, "Yes, I can but I won’t."

"It would not be a wise thing to do in order to see if they would move forward," he noted.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said earlier on Wednesday that the US suggests "alternative potential ways forward" in prisoner swap. She said that Washington had advanced a proposal on settling the situation with US nationals Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan.

Earlier, Washington offered Moscow to exchange Russian businessman Viktor Bout who is serving a prison term in the US on arms trafficking charges for Griner and Paul Whelan. The prisoner swap was among the topics discussed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in late July. The Russian side said after the talks that Lavrov had strongly recommended to his US counterpart that the sides return to "quiet diplomacy" on this issue. Later, the US media reported, citing unnamed sources, that Moscow had proposed including another Russian national serving a prison term in a Western country in the potential swap deal.

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United States Joseph Biden

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