The U.S. government is releasing Alexander Vinnik, a Russian cybercriminal who allegedly laundered millions, as part of a prisoner exchange with Russia, according to a report from the Associated Press. Vinnik ran BTC-e, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, and allegedly laundered crypto for Fancy Bear, the Russian group that’s believed to have hacked the Democratic National Committee’s emails in 2016, according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
News of Vinnik’s release came shortly before President Donald Trump announced he had a “lengthy and highly productive phone call” with Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war in Ukraine. Trump’s post claimed he and Putin had discussed “Ukraine, the Middle East, Energy, Artificial Intelligence, the power of the Dollar, and various other subjects,” while also being loaded with platitudes for Russia and a great future of “working together.”
“We have also agreed to have our respective teams start negotiations immediately, and we will begin by calling President Zelenskyy, of Ukraine, to inform him of the conversation, something which I will be doing right now,” Trump wrote Wednesday.
It’s not clear yet what Ukraine’s president may be willing to give up for peace, but Trump claimed shortly after the post about his call with Putin that he had spoken with President Zelesnky, writing that “He, like President Putin, wants to make PEACE.”
“We discussed a variety of topics having to do with the War, but mostly, the meeting that is being set up on Friday in Munich, where Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the Delegation,” Trump wrote. “I am hopeful that the results of that meeting will be positive. It is time to stop this ridiculous War, where there has been massive, and totally unnecessary, DEATH and DESTRUCTION. God bless the people of Russia and Ukraine!”
Obviously, we have to take Trump’s word on the phone call at this point and nobody knows how Ukraine may actually feel about a deal. And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Wednesday that he didn’t believe the 2014 borders of Ukraine was a realistic goal, something that would almost certainly concern Zelenskyy. In an interview on Tuesday, the Ukrainian president did say that he was open to possibly swapping territory with Russia in an effort to bring peace.
Hegseth: “We must start by recognizing that returning to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders is an unrealistic objective … the US does not believe that NATO membership for Ukraine is a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement.” pic.twitter.com/n08HaWYJt1
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 12, 2025
Russia released American Marc Fogel as a prisoner on Tuesday, who promptly went to the White House to praise Trump. Fogel is a school teacher who was arrested for bringing marijuana into the country. The New York Times characterized the release of Vinnik and Fogel as gestures of goodwill by each nation, but Trump did not acknowledge Vinnik in his Truth Social post about Putin on Wednesday.
“Millions of people have died in a War that would not have happened if I were President, but it did happen, so it must end,” Trump wrote, complete with his weird and random capitalization.
“No more lives should be lost!” Trump continued. “I want to thank President Putin for his time and effort with respect to this call, and for the release, yesterday, of Marc Fogel, a wonderful man that I personally greeted last night at the White House. I believe this effort will lead to a successful conclusion, hopefully soon!”
Vinnik’s now-defunct crypto exchange BTC-e was allegedly laundering $66 million worth of crypto every day at its peak in 2017. The Russian national was arrested while vacationing in Greece that year and was extradited to the U.S. to face charges. Vinnik pleaded guilty to money laundering last year.