Blinken says US offered Russia ‘substantial’ deal to free Americans Brittney Griner, Paul Whelan
- Washington has offered Moscow a deal to release two US citizens detained in Russia, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said
- Blinken said he plans to soon speak to Russia’s Sergey Lavrov for the first time since the war in Ukraine began
The United States has made a “substantial proposal” to Russia to free Americans including basketball star Brittney Griner, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, as he announced he will speak to his Moscow counterpart for the first time since the Ukraine war.
Blinken said he expected a telephone call “in the coming days” with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the offer to free former Marine Paul Whelan as well as Griner – who told a court earlier Wednesday that she had brought in banned drugs unintentionally.
The pair “have been wrongfully detained and must be allowed to come home,” Blinken said.
“We put a substantial proposal on the table weeks ago to facilitate their release. Our governments have communicated repeatedly and directly on that proposal and I’ll use the conversation to follow up personally,” he said.
Citing the sensitivity, Blinken declined to go into detail or confirm reports that the United States was offering to trade them for Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian arms smuggler.
On Thursday, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said negotiations between Moscow and Washington on exchanging prisoners are ongoing, but have not yielded any results yet.