On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” U.S. Amb. to Turkey Jeff Flake stated that Vladimir Putin “wanted” the prisoner swap the U.S. made with Russia, “But I think we wanted it more, and it’s a good deal for all of us.”
Host Pamela Brown asked, “We saw Putin greet the freed Russian prisoners as they landed in Moscow, two of them convicted killers, many others convicted spies. How much does Putin benefit from this deal?”
Flake answered, “Well, he certainly wanted this, but I think we wanted it as well. These are very different stories, obviously, the detainees that are detainees in Russia were not guilty of what they were charged with. Obviously, the Russians were. So, it’s a very different situation, but I’m sure he wanted it. But I think we wanted it more, and it’s a good deal for all of us.”
Brown then asked, “But do you think this could incentivize hostile actors to wrongfully jail more American citizens? As you point out, the ones — the Americans who were freed were wrongfully detained, and in exchange, Russia got a hitman back, they got spies back in exchange?”
Flake responded, “I think those incentives will always exist, but Russia will seek to detain innocent people regardless of what we do on our side. So, I think this is the right thing to do.”
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