Russia ‘will release pilot Nadiya Savchenko if US releases world number one arms dealer Viktor Bout’

Viktor Bout and Nadiya Savchenko

Credit: AFP

A deal is under way between Russian and US authorities to exchangeUkrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, according to reports.

Ms Savchenko, recently sentenced to 22 years in prison by Russian authorities in a politically charged case, may be exchanged for Mr Bout and Konstantin Yaroshenko, both currently serving lengthy prison sentences in the US for illegal arms sales and drug trafficking, respectively.

In addition to Mr Bout and Mr Yaroshenko, the list reportedly contains Russian citizens “whose activities are not publicly reported,” an Interfax report claimed. The Kremlin has claimed to have no information on such an exchange.

But Alexei Tarasov, a lawyer for Mr Bout, has further fuelled speculation about the proposal.

A protester climbs over the fence of the Russian embassy in Kiev, during a demonstration calling for the release of Ms Savchenko

“There is a likelihood of this exchange and it's above zero. In this area, specific measures are being taken,” lawyer Alexei Tarasov told Russia's RBC news agency late on March 29. Mr Tarasov declined to elaborate further, saying he didn't want to jeopardise the negotiations.

Geoffrey Pyatt, US Ambassador to Ukraine, has scoffed at the idea, however.

"The proposal for an exchange is simply laughable. Savchenko is being held illegally in Russia. She was captured illegally, and according to the Minsk accords she must be freed. Period," Pyatt said at a briefing in Kyiv on March 29.

Ms Savchenko attends a hearing at the Basmanny district court in Moscow

Some Russian politicians were equally dismayed by the proposal, questioning why Russia was choosing to involve the US at all.

Opposition activist Leonid Volkov took to social media to say the proposal showed that Moscow believes it is waging a war with the US, not Ukraine, and therefore “acting absolutely logically” by trying to negotiate with the West.

A source in Russia's Foreign Ministry was quoted by Interfax on March 30 saying the rumor was nothing more than part of a larger propaganda campaign.

"Discussions about the options for Savchenko's exchange and allegations that secret negotiations and behind-the-scenes games are under way are sheer lies aimed primarily at propping up the informational campaign on this case," the unidentified source said. It was unclear who he believed had orchestrated such propaganda.

The US Embassy in Kyiv's press office told The Telegraph it could not comment on whether or not such a proposal had ever even been made in the first place.