The Latest Breaking News from Sergei Ryabkov

The life of Viktor Bout reads like a spy thriller.

Russia is open to more high-level talks with the United States, a top diplomat said on Friday, but the Kremlin dismissed the idea of a summit between President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Joe Biden as "out of the question" for now.

Russia said on Friday it hoped to clinch a prisoner swap with the United States to return convicted Russian weapons trafficker Viktor Bout, known as the "Merchant of Death", in an exchange that would likely include U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner.

The Kremlin on Thursday refused to give any details about a cautionary message delivered by the director of the CIA to Moscow this week about the consequences of any Russian nuclear strike on Ukraine.

Russia said it will hold talks with the U.S. from late November to early December in Cairo about inspections of atomic weapons sites under the New START treaty, a first step toward reviving broader arms-control talks suspended since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The idea of a prisoner exchange between the United States and Russia remains open, and the two sides have certain channels and a schedule for talks on the subject, the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying on Friday.

Russia said on Friday it did not expect a quick breakthrough in talks with the United States on resuming nuclear arms inspections that it said would take place soon in Cairo.

Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Friday that there had been no new signals on a potential prisoner exchange with the United States, Interfax reported.

Russian forces showered Ukraine with more missiles and munition-carrying drones Tuesday after widespread strikes killed at least 19 people in an attack the UN human rights office described as “particularly shocking” and potential war crimes. Air raid warnings extended throughout the country for a second straight morning as Ukrainian officials…

A new round of missile attacks has struck the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, as the death toll from the previous day’s widespread Russian missile barrage across Ukraine rose to 19

Two Russian officials ease fears of nuclear conflict after the president’s thinly veiled warning to the West.