It also asks for the return of Paul Whelan, a US executive, who was previously barred from such negotiations by the US government.
Former US Marine Paul Whelan and WNBA star Brittney Griner are among the Americans now detained by the Russian government, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Blinken also stated that he expected to speak with his Kremlin counterpart for the first time since before Russia invaded Ukraine, reversing his former attitude dramatically.
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Griner, who was arrested in February at a Moscow airport on drug-related charges and testified at her trial on Wednesday, was the first person the US government had publicly revealed any tangible action it had done to gain her release.
Despite the fact that the proposed arrangement was made public weeks ago, it is still uncertain whether Russia will accept it in order to free the Americans.
Griner and Whelan’s plight and the White House’s desire to bring them home are the driving forces behind the administration’s public acknowledgment of Russia’s offer.
Blinken stated that the United States was eager for a reaction from Russia. Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer formerly dubbed the “Merchant of Death,” was sentenced to 25 years in jail in 2012 on allegations that he conspired to illegally sell millions of dollars’ worth of weapons. Russia has indicated interest in his release for years.
Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, has been requested to speak with Blinken. According to US sources, the US requested a phone meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday in order to get an answer on the prisoner offer.
After not speaking since 15 February, when Russia invaded Ukraine, this would be the first time Blinken and Lavrov had spoken in person since then.
To that end, Blinken said he would discuss with Lavrov the importance of Russia complying with a UN-brokered agreement reached in Turkey last Friday to release multiple tons of Ukrainian grain from storage and warn him about the dangers of possible Russian attempts to annex portions of eastern and southern Ukraine.
He was convicted in 2020 to 16 years in jail on espionage charges by a court in Michigan. A robust defense of his innocence has been made by him and members of his family. The charges have been deemed untrue by the United States government.
Since the spring, Griner, who has been detained by Russian authorities since that time, has conceded in court that she had cannabis oil-laced vape cartridges with her when she flew to Moscow in February to play basketball in the country, but she maintains that she did not do so on purpose.
On Wednesday, Griner testified that she had no idea how the cannabis oil ended up in her luggage, but she stated that she had a doctor’s recommendation for it and had packed in a hurry since she was rushing. If found guilty of narcotics trafficking, she might be sentenced to 10 years in prison.
It has long been feared that prisoner swaps could encourage further hostage-taking and promote the false equivalence between an American wrongly held and a foreign individual who is considered to be justly sentenced.
When Trevor Reed was swapped for convicted Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko earlier this year it appeared to open the door to similar deals in future. Political pressure has been mounting on the Biden administration to free Griner and other Americans who have been deemed unjustly incarcerated.
It appeared that Blinken and Lavrov had not spoken to each other in order to obtain the release of Reed.
The reaction to Wednesday’s statement was varied.
While praising Blinken’s efforts on Twitter, former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul asked the State Department to include Marc Fogel in the arrangement as well.
Even if it means giving Viktor Bout over, I appreciate @SecBlinken & @StateDept’s efforts to send Britney Griner and Paul Whelan back to their home countries. I’m in favor of the switch. I’m crossing my fingers that Marc Fogel will be part of the transaction. Bout is a true felon. McFaul tweeted, “He’s worth liberating three innocent Americans for..”.
When airport authorities in Moscow detained Fogel, an American teacher, he claimed that the marijuana in his baggage was prescribed to him following a spinal operation in the United States, and he was convicted earlier this year to 14 years in prison.
Others were harsher, with one critic writing on Twitter: “An arms trafficker for someone who had cannabis..”. As far as I’m concerned, Putin got a great deal here. It’s time for us to hire a new GM [general manager].
“America is outraged at Russia for doing to Brittney Griner what it does to 374,000 people per year,” wrote the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire in response to the prisoner swap announcement.