Kremlin ready to discuss prisoner swap with US after Brittney Griner sentenced to 9 years in Russian prison
AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool
- Brittney Griner has been sentenced to nine years in Russian prison and found guilty of drug offenses.
- The WNBA superstar's hopes of an expedient return home now hinge on a prisoner swap with Russia.
- The US has proposed an offer, and now that Griner has been sentenced, the Kremlin is ready to negotiate.
The Kremlin said on Friday that it is ready to discuss a prisoner exchange with the United States just one day after WNBA star Brittney Griner was convicted of drug smuggling and sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison.
"There is a special channel that has been agreed upon by the presidents, and no matter what anyone says publicly, this channel remains relevant," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters in Cambodia, according to state-run news agency RIA Novosti.
Lavrov added: "If the Americans decide to resort to public diplomacy again and make loud announcements, statements that they are now going to take such and such steps, this is their business, their problem," the report said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's top diplomat made the comments at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters at the same event on Friday that the United States will pursue discussions with Russia.
"We put forward, as you know, a substantial proposal that Russia should engage with us on," Blinken said, per CNN. "And what Foreign Minister Lavrov said this morning and said publicly is that they are prepared to engage through channels we've established to do just that. And we'll be pursuing that."
Last week, the Biden administration proposed a prisoner swap, offering convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for Griner and former US marine Paul Whelan.