The US and Russia independently made remarks about negotiations for a prisoner swap after basketball star Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony.
Diplomats from both governments said on Friday that they are ready to negotiate to swap Griner and Paul Whelan, a former US marine who is imprisoned in Russia, for a Russian prisoner.
The Biden administration reportedly has offered to exchange Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer in prison in the US, for Griner and Whelan. Secretary Antony Blinken and the State Department have not publicly confirmed details of the proposed swap.
Blinken and Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, both said the negotiations would be held through a special channel, presumably referring to an agreement about prisoner and hostage exchanges, between Biden and Putin, which was discussed in Geneva last year.
However, before making the statements, Blinken and Lavrov were in a meeting in Cambodia, and said nothing to each other.
Griner was convicted on drug charges in Moscow on Thursday. American officials insist that she was wrongfully charged and detained and that her trial was a political stunt by Russia. The situation is not helped by the tensions between the US and Russia over the war in Ukraine.
After the Cambodia meeting, referring to the lack of conversation between him and Mr. Blinken, Mr. Lavrov said, “Today, there was only one person between us at the table. I didn’t see him trying to catch me.”
Russian officials are insisting that Griner’s legal proceedings must be completed before negotiations begin on a possible exchange. Griner’s lawyers are planning to appeal the nine-year sentence, and that might delay talks between Blinken and Lavrov.