For the first time since the arrest of WNBA star Brittney Griner for drug possession in February, Russia has officially confirmed that it is in talks with the United States government about a potential prisoner swap. The Washington Post first reported the development.
“Instructions have been given to authorized structures to conduct negotiations,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ivan Nechayev said Thursday. They are implemented by competent authorities.
Last week, Griner was found guilty on drug charges in Russia and sentenced to nine and a half years in prison. She has been in custody since her arrest on February 17 at an airport near Moscow for having vape cartridges containing hashish oil — a concentrate of marijuana — in her luggage. Her lawyers plan to appeal, but the United States government is also trying to help.
After the sentencing, President Joe Biden told the media that he was “hopeful” about the situation. In May, his administration declared Griner to be “unlawfully detained.” Last month, Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed that the US government had put a “significant proposal on the table” for Griner’s release, although no details of the proposal were provided.
Although Russia confirmed this week that negotiations were underway, it did not reveal any details about who would be included in the swap. However, multiple media outlets have reported that Griner and corporate security director Paul Whelan will be part of the deal in exchange for Victor Butt, a convicted arms dealer currently serving a 25-year prison sentence in the US. Whelan is serving a 16-year prison sentence in Russia after being arrested in 2018 and convicted of espionage in 2020. The Biden administration also considers Whelan to be “unlawfully detained.”
While negotiations between Russia and the United States have been going on for months, Russian officials prefer not to make their discussions public. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they preferred to keep the talks between the two countries private, only through the established communication channel that Biden and Vladimir Putin established in June 2021 when they met in Geneva.
“The US has already made mistakes, trying to solve such problems through ‘microphone diplomacy.’ They are not solved that way,” Peskov said earlier this month.
For a full explanation of Griner’s situation, click here.
