Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov confirmed Moscow’s proposal to exchange imprisoned pilot Konstantin Yarshenko for several US prisoners in Russia, adding that it is doing its utmost to secure Viktor Bout's release under the same mechanism as well.
"It is absolutely no secret and is strange it is perceived as a kind of sensation that we have offered American colleagues to use the 1983 Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons to serve their time in the country of their citizenship, so that the US could get rid of the burden of incarcerating Konstantin Yaroshenko and Viktor Bout," Sputnik cited Ryabkov as saying.
He assured Yaroshenko's mother and wife, with whom the Russian Foreign Ministry maintains regular contacts "we are making every effort" to secure the pilot's release.
