(CNN) President Joe Biden is caught up in a tension between increasingly fretful families of Americans in Russia and Vladimir Putin – a leader who has little qualms about using civilians to exclude his political goals.
Biden is facing increasing pressure from family members of WNBA star Brittney Griner and ex-US Marine Paul Whelan, who are frustrated by his failure to bring them home and questioned whether their fates have received his personal attention.
But the White House’s response only deepens its political inconvenience. After Biden called Griner’s wife Cherelle on Wednesday and responded to a letter from the basketball player, Whelan’s sister said she was “surprised” that her brother did not receive similar treatment.
The situation has given rise to yet another crisis, leading to the White House testing its sometimes-failing public messaging machine ahead of midterm elections, which may in part be a referendum on Biden’s presidency.
As the political heat on the president rises, the US lifting needed to free the couple is compromised by antagonistic relations between Moscow and Washington, which leaves them essentially political farmers trapped in a broader geopolitical trap. Because of the aftershocks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the relentless US campaign to isolate and punish the Kremlin, it may never have been a worse time for an American to be imprisoned in Russia.
Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February a week before the invasion and after playing in Moscow during the WNBA off-season. Russian authorities claim they have cannabis oil in their luggage and accuse them of smuggling significant quantities of a narcotic substance, a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Griner pleaded guilty on Thursday.
Whelan was arrested in 2018 for espionage charges, which he denied. He was sentenced and in June 2020 sentenced to 16 years in prison in a trial of U.S. officials who were declared unfair. He also questioned whether the Biden White House had done anything to free him.
Washington says both Americans were imprisoned incorrectly.
While the fears of Griner and Whelan and their families are justified, the public profile of their cases is risky. They try to produce the administration in urgent action, but signs of rising public pressure on Biden are certainly reported to Putin and his subordinates by Russian diplomats. This could not only complicate the administration’s effort to dismantle the fate of the US prisoners from the broader menu of graves that have broken the US dialogue with Russia; it could also embolden a Russian leader who called Biden a “butcher” willing to argue over US sanctions and military aid to Ukraine. It could also raise the price for any deal between the US and Russia that wins the release of the Americans – perhaps along the lines of the Cold War-style prisoner exchange that a sick American, Trevor Reed, released in April.
The situation of individuals vs American interests
The plight of individuals vs. American interests
In the United States, the situation of the Griner, in particular, is viewed through a humanitarian lens. See the article : Harris said Abbott went straight into politics after panicking Texas immigrants.. And for the loved ones of those in prison, almost every step of bringing them home would cost a small price.
But the White House and State Department must also oppose signaling to U.S. adversaries such as Russia, Iran, China or North Korea, or criminal or terrorist groups, that Washington is open to returning businesses to dealers for detained citizens. This would leave all Americans deeply vulnerable if they travel overseas.
Biden’s headache on these issues only gets worse. It is politically problematic every time a president seems incapable of dictating conditions for strongmen abroad. And with his parallel approval ratings, Biden’s handling of what is essentially a foreign hostage crisis could provide an opening for his domestic political enemies.
The president’s political pressure has grown significantly in recent days after Griner’s camp increased the pressure, including a letter to the president of the Phoenix Mercury Star himself in which she wrote that she feared for indefinite imprisonment in Russia to be. Her wife, Cherelle, in an interview with CNN asked about the effort to release her corresponding US rhetoric.
Later, at a rally in Arizona held by Griner’s pro team and Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton, participants expressed concerns about their situation.
“I’m frustrated that my wife is not getting justice,” said Cherelle Griner.
In its rush to improve with Griner’s camp, the administration may have successfully succeeded in avenging the political brouhaha it sought to support.
Both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke by telephone on Wednesday with Cherelle Griner to assure her that she would follow every avenue to free her wife. And the president shared with her an answer he wrote to the Phoenix Mercury Center. But his attention to Griner’s case immediately caused friction with Whelan’s family. The ex-Marine’s sister told CNN that while they did not reassure the Griner family of the attention, they wondered why there are some families and not others.
“I was surprised to hear this call this morning,” Elizabeth Whelan told CNN’s Erica Hill. “It asked me, should we push for a meeting with the president? What I really wanted was a working process that really did not require it.”
Whelan said her brother wrote hundreds of letters, including to Biden, former President Donald Trump and members of Congress. While she said she believed the US government was doing everything she could to bring her brother home, her outreach to the families was not enough.
“My message to the White House is that other families with far fewer resources have been waiting for years and years to see some action to bring their loved ones home. What we need to see is something a little more equitable,” she said.
After Elisabeth Whelan appeared on CNN, White House staff spoke to her on the phone, said John Kirby, the coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council.
“I think we all, and certainly the President, understand the fear, the anxiety, the insecurity and certainly the longing that the family – especially Elizabeth – is taking at the moment,” Kirby told reporters . “He understands that, and he made it clear to the whole team that he wants to make every effort to do what we can to get Paul home, too.”
Griner and Whelan are not the only Americans imprisoned abroad. A coalition of family members involved in the “Bring Our Families Home Campaign” also called on the president to be more personally involved in their cases. Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a meeting with the families and assured them that the administration is doing everything it can. On Tuesday, State Department spokesman Ned Price spoke of the extreme sensitivity of many cases while saying he understands the impulse of families to drive as much publicity as possible.
“We do not want, ourselves, to do anything, do not want to say anything that could endanger” the cases of Americans imprisoned abroad, Price said. “We had conversations with families about how they too could avoid doing anything that would further complicate the release of their loved ones.”
The US government is also dealing with cases of two other Americans, Alexander John-Robert Drueke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, who are being held by the pro-Russian Donetsk People’s Republic after being captured fighting for Ukraine.
Bunny Drueke, the mother of one of the men, told CNN Erin Burnett on Wednesday that she was satisfied with the administration’s response.
“I have not heard from President Biden or the White House, but I did not expect it; that is not really her responsibility,” she said, adding that she was pleased with the role of the blinker in the matter, pointing out , that her son and his countryman were different from the Griner because they were prisoners of war.
Sensitive diplomatic maneuvers
Sensitive diplomatic maneuvering
The position of the Americans held by the enemies of the United States is particularly difficult. On the same subject : Politics should not take precedence over priorities. While Washington may want to silence the cases of individuals from complicated geopolitical disputes, adversary governments are bound to try to use them for their own purposes.
This is why prisoners like Griner have so few options – imprisoned in a country whose leader has shown little competence in using innocent civilians as chits.
“Really what happened to Brittney Griner – she was abducted and is now in exchange for something Putin wants,” Steve Hall, the former CIA chief of Russia’s operations, said last week.
Hall underscores how U.S. negotiations for the release of prisoners abroad are viewed by the country’s enemies. “You will encourage more of this, not just from Russia – North Korea is a perfect example. These quiet states, these authoritarian states … know that all they have to do is reach an American – whether it’s a businessman, a tourist, a pro, like Griner – and then they can negotiate for anything they want, “said Hall, a CNN National Security analyst.
The price that Russia is now demanding for the leniency for such a high-profile figure may rise from the day. Moscow would certainly like to release Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer known as “Merchant of Death”, from US prison.
But Biden would face significant resistance from leaders within the criminal justice hierarchy if he offered the bout in a prisoner exchange. It would, for one thing, equate the integrity of a U.S. prosecutor – who saw Bout with 25 years in prison for conspiracy to kill Americans, obtain and export anti-aircraft missiles and equate material support to a terrorist organization – with Russian criminals Procedures that Washington sees as shame.
Such judicial and geopolitical considerations shine for those Americans whose family members are imprisoned thousands of miles from home in often primitive and unhealthy conditions. These cases end up in the prescriptions of presidents because they are so intractable and often involve unfortunate balances between humanitarian considerations and national interests.
And every choice a president makes comes with significant disadvantages.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
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What is jail called in Russia?
From the 1920s to the mid-1950s, it housed political prisoners and criminals of the Soviet Union. At its height, the Gulag imprisoned millions of people. Read also : All Politics Must Be Local – And Response. The word Gulag is an acronym for Glavnoye Upravleniye Ispravitelno-Trudovykh Lagerey (Russian: “Chief Administration of Corrective Labor Camps”).
How is the prison in Russia?
Are there jails in Russia?
The correctional colony is the most widespread, with 705 institutions (except 7 correctional colonies for life sentences) in 2019 over the administrative divisions of Russia. There were also 8 prisons, 23 juvenile facilities, and 211 pre-trial facilities in 2019.
What are Russian prisons in Siberia called?
Katorga camps were founded in the 17th century by Alexis of Russia and newly conquered, underpopulated areas of Siberia and the Russian Far East – regions that had few cities or food sources. Despite the isolated conditions, some prisoners successfully escaped to inhabited areas.
What country has the shortest life sentence?
In Switzerland, a life sentence can be sentenced for murder, but according to Swiss criminal law, “life” does not mean that the perpetrator remains in prison for the rest of their days. + What does “life” mean in Swiss criminal law? After 15 years, sometimes after only ten years, unconditional publication is possible.
Are there still gulags today?
The Gulag Institution was closed by MVD Order No. 020 of January 25, 1960, but forced labor colonies for political and criminal prisoners continued to exist. Political prisoners were kept in one of the most famous camps Perm-36 until 1987, when it was closed.
Who completed the Gulag system? Some were restructured to serve as prisons for criminals, democratic activists, and anti-Soviet nationalists in the 1970s and 1980s. It was not until around 1987 that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the grandson of the victims of the Gulag, officially began the process of eliminating the camp completely.
What does Gulag mean today?
: the penal system of the Soviet Union consists of a network of labor camps also: labor camp sense 1.
When did the Gulag system end?
After Stalin’s death in 1953, the number of prisoners decreased sharply and the Gulag was officially abolished in 1960.
