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After the conviction of basketball star Brittney Griner, the foreign chief and the Kremlin spokesman expressed themselves in favor of sitting down to discuss with the United States about the possibilities of arranging a prisoner exchange. However, they criticized Washington’s “media” ways.
This Friday, August 5, the repercussions for the sentence of the American basketball player, Brittney Griner, continue. This time, high Russian authorities expressed their willingness to start a dialogue with Washington and advance in the exchange of prisoners.
However, Dmitri Peskov – spokesman for the Kremlin – warned that they will not negotiate through the “loudspeaker diplomacy” installed by the United States. “If we start discussing in the press any details related to the exchanges, these will never take place. It is not resolved like that,” he remarked.
The Americans’ method of speaking about these issues publicly was harshly criticized by high-ranking Moscow officials, such as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
“We are willing to study this matter, but within the framework of the channel agreed by Presidents Putin and Biden,” he said at a press conference in Phnom Penh. “If they again want to resort to public diplomacy and make bombastic statements, that’s their problem,” he added.
Meanwhile, Lavrov stressed that “Americans often fail to comply with agreements to work calmly and professionally” and recalled the success of the dialogue in the corresponding channels to finalize the exchange of former Marine Trevor Reed for the Russian Konstantin Yaroshenko.
Peskov did not rule out the possibility that Griner could be pardoned in the event that an agreement to exchange detainees is not achieved. “All issues related to pardon are regulated by law and there are certain procedures that can be used by it,” she closed.
Blinken: “Russia should engage”
For his part, the United States Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, confirmed that they will work to advance a deal with Moscow to free Griner, who suffered a sentence that the White House described as “unfair.”
At the press conference in Cambodia, where he attended a meeting of foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Blinken made clear his concern about the Russian judicial system that makes “unjust arrests to advance its own agenda using individuals as political pawns.
Finally, he reiterated that Washington had submitted a “substantial proposal” and that “Russia should commit itself.”
As reported by ”, it consisted of issuing the extradition of Griner and former marine Paul Whelan, imprisoned for 16 years for alleged intelligence work, in exchange for the Russian arms dealer, Viktor Bout, sentenced to 25 years on American soil.
The American news network also reported that Russia rejected this offer and launched a counterproposal that included the Chechen Vadim Krasikov, but it was also denied.
With EFE and Reuters
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