Blinken will speak “in the next few days” with Lavrov and offer Russia the exchange of the athlete Griner

Biden Administration Proposes Russian Arms Dealer Serving Sentence in US as Trade

27 (EUROPE PRESS)

The Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, has confirmed this Wednesday that he will talk “in the next few days” with the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, to whom he will offer the exchange of the basketball player Brittney Griner.

This will therefore be the first rapprochement between the two officials since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, which began at the end of February by order of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and will be a step towards reopening diplomatic channels between Moscow and Washington.

In statements to the media, Blinken has indicated that, among the issues that he will address with his Russian counterpart, there will be a possible exchange through which the WNBA basketball player Brittney Griner and the former US Marine Paul Whelan, accused by the Justice Russian, return to American soil.

According to the US network , the Biden Administration has proposed exchanging Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States, for Griner and Whelan.

The sources consulted by said chain assure that the idea has received the support of the president of the United States, Joe Biden. “We communicated a substantial offer that we believe could be successful based on a history of talks with the Russians,” a US official said.

From the United States they had already been pressing the Russian authorities during the month of July alleging that Griner’s detention was unjust and the possibility of an exchange of prisoners was already put on the table, among whom it was speculated that Viktor Bout could be.

The person in charge of US diplomacy has indicated that the State Department already has a detailed plan to achieve this process and has expressed his hope that Russia will access the exchange.

“They have been mistakenly detained and must be allowed to return home (…) we put a substantial proposal on the table weeks ago to facilitate their release,” said Blinken, who added that he will use the conversation with Lavrov to “follow up personally” on this matter.

Questioned about the cost that this operation would entail for the United States, Blinken acknowledged that this is precisely the biggest unknown facing Washington, since the White House “does not see signs that Russia is prepared to participate in significant diplomacy”.

The American player pleaded guilty in early July to a drug offense before a Moscow court, for which she could face a prison sentence of up to ten years in prison.

For his part, former US Marine Paul Whelan is convicted of espionage and the Russian Justice has previously rejected requests for repatriation submitted by his defense.