President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin agreed to a prisoner exchange, Russia’s foreign minister said.
“President Trump is a man who wants results,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in Turkey, according to NBC News. He did not provide further details about the exchange.
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The State Department did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request to verify Russia’s claim.
The exchange would be the first prisoner swap between the United States and Russia since American teacher Marc Fogel was returned to the U.S. in February after he spent more than three years in prison.
Russia’s announcement comes nearly a year after four Americans, including journalist Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan, who had been wrongly imprisoned in Russia, were released in August as part of a multicountry exchange. An exchange of that degree had not been seen since the Cold War.
Trump, who repeatedly said he would end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours of starting his presidency — he now suggests that was an exaggeration — has in recent weeks pushed for an immediate 30-day ceasefire. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has also expressed his support for this plan, but Putin has said he wants to talk first.
Putin had called for peace talks in Turkey earlier this month, but he did not show up and instead sent a low-level delegation. Russia also has not backed down from its list of demands.
Trump has expressed frustration with Putin due to the Russian military’s increased attacks on Ukrainian civilian areas. The pair spoke on the phone for over two hours last week to discuss a ceasefire.