Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied that Moscow and Washington were discussing U.S. sanctions relief in exchange for the release of Russian political prisoners, while confirming that Russian and U.S. security services continued regular contacts over prisoner exchanges, Interfax reported on Sept. 30. His remarks followed a Sept. 29 Atlantic report that U.S. envoy John Coale had proposed using limited sanctions relief to secure prisoner releases and received U.S. President Donald Trump's approval to explore the idea.