Will the US and Russia exchange prisoners? For several hours this hope flashed, but quickly faded. Initially, the Biden-Putin summit was not associated with great expectations, but the preliminary statements of the American side are so hostile to Russia that it is difficult to expect any positive results from this meeting. President Biden rather aggressively said that he would demand a "report" from his Russian colleague that he would not hand over the Russian programmers, but would demand the return of American criminals from Russian prisons. So his position was voiced by his adviser Jake Sullivan.
It all started on a positive note, when President Putin expressed his readiness to exchange prisoners for humanitarian reasons. Indeed, prisoner swaps are a good old tradition of Russian-American relations, dating back to Soviet times. Many remember the exchange of Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky (later convicted of pedophilia in London) for the Chilean communist Luis Corvalan. And now, as President Putin said, Russia could take into account the state of health, the wishes of families and agree to such an exchange.
For many years in American prisons, Russian citizens Bout and Yaroshenko and hundreds of other prisoners, kidnapped abroad, have languished. It would be good to bring them back home, especially since many of them are sick. But for now, the United States is willing to talk only about its citizens in Russian prisons. If, during a direct summit meeting, the United States shows its readiness to meet halfway, Russia will also meet halfway, President Putin said. That is, the main condition is reciprocity, and not the usual American "but what for us?"
“Pilot Yaroshenko has been with you for a long time - 15 or almost 20 years already. There, too, it seems like purely criminal cases. Need to talk. But we are not talking about this topic. Maybe there will be an opportunity. If the American side is ready to discuss this topic, we are ready, please ... It would be even better to discuss the possibility of concluding an agreement on the extradition of persons who are in prison. This is a common world practice; we have such agreements with some countries. We are ready to discuss this with the United States, ”said President Putin.
Among the prisoners in the United States there are many Russian programmers who were kidnapped in third countries.
If they committed crimes for which they were convicted by an American court, they could have served their sentences at home, in Russia, in the Russian penitentiary system.
Russia has agreements of this kind with many countries, and it could be with the United States as well.
But the adviser to the American president, Jake Sullivan, has already said that there can be no question of them.
In general, he questioned the idea of exchanging prisoners.
The idea is, they say, good, but we do not support it.
President Putin told NBC in a lengthy interview that there are many cybercrimes going on in Russia too, with which a difficult but necessary fight is being waged.
A cybersecurity pact with the United States would help both countries.
The United States still refuses to negotiate cybersecurity, preferring to blame Russia for all the cybercrimes taking place in America.
Although, it would seem, what sane person would accuse Russia of a cyberattack on a meat processing plant?
But the United States believes that they have lost the day if Russia is not accused of something.
The American press, mostly supportive of the Democrats, presents President Trump's timid attempts to mend relations with Russia as "surrender" and, accordingly, raises the bar for President Biden.
They want harsh anti-Russian rhetoric from him.
It is difficult to achieve success and progress in such conditions.
Putin rightly said that the United States is sacrificing relations with Russia in the name of its internal agenda, in the name of fighting Trump and his party.
Two interviews with Vladimir Putin - an American television company and a Russian television channel Rossiya - roughly described Russia's position at the upcoming summit. They showed that Russia is firmly on its way, is not going to compromise its vital interests, but is ready for negotiations and agreements with the United States on mutually beneficial issues. The US is going to "put Russia in its place", and it is good, if not in a corner.
Although the topic of prisoner exchange was discussed in the United States, complete clarity was not achieved. Judging by the conversations of Sullivan's adviser, the Biden administration believes that arrested and convicted programmers (supposedly hackers) should remain in American prisons, while those who have not yet been captured should be captured and sent to prison. Here they, if arrested by the Russian police, could be left in Russia. Putin offered to conclude an agreement on the mutual extradition of "hackers", but this idea did not like the Biden administration. “They should be held accountable,” the White House believes, “if they are in an American prison, they are already responsible. If Russia supports this approach, then everything will work out. " In other words, the United States is again offering a one-sided game - just like the press conference after the meeting,where only President Biden will speak and only Western journalists will listen to him. They will try not to invite Russian journalists, citing restrictions on coronavirus.
Despite these extremely unfavorable initial conditions, it is possible that the two presidents will be able to lift Russian-American relations from their historical minimum.
An exchange of prisoners, at least in part, could prove to be a positive step towards strengthening mutual trust, but only if the United States understands that Russia is ready to move forward only on the basis of reciprocity.
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.