The Kremlin stated Friday that it is open to speaking a few doable prisoner alternate involving American basketball star Brittney Griner however strongly warned Washington in opposition to publicizing the difficulty.
Griner, a two-time U.S. Olympic champion and an eight-time all-star with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, has been detained in Russia since Feb. 17 after police at Moscow’s airport stated they discovered vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her baggage.
A decide convicted the 31-year-old athlete Thursday of drug possession and smuggling, and sentenced her to 9 years in jail. The politically charged case comes amid excessive tensions between Moscow and Washington over Russia’s army motion in Ukraine.
In a unprecedented transfer, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke final week to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, urging him to simply accept a deal below which Griner and Paul Whelan, an American jailed in Russia on espionage expenses, would go free.
Lavrov and Blinken had been each in Cambodia on Friday for a gathering of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Blinken didn’t even look at his Russian counterpart as they took their seats at an East Asia Summit.
Lavrov informed reporters that Blinken didn’t attempt to contact him whereas they had been attending the ASEAN assembly.
“We were separated by just one person at the discussion table, but I didn’t feel his desire to catch me. My buttons are all in place,” he stated when requested about Washington’s assertion that Blinken would attempt to buttonhole Lavrov for a fast interplay in Phnom Penh.
Lavrov stated Moscow was “ready to discuss” a prisoner swap however that the subject ought to solely be mentioned by way of a devoted Russia-U.S. channel that U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to determine after they met in Geneva in June 2021.
“If the Americans again try to engage in public diplomacy and make loud statements about their intention to take certain steps, it’s their business, I would even say their problem,” Lavrov stated. “The Americans often have trouble observing agreements on calm and professional work.”
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the identical level extra harshly, saying “the U.S. already has made mistakes, trying to solve such problems via ‘microphone diplomacy.’ They are not solved that way.”
He, too, emphasised that any discussions on a doable commerce needs to be held by way of the beforehand established confidential channels that Putin and Biden conform to throughout final 12 months’s summit.
“Such mechanisms exist, but they will be thrown into doubt if the discussion continues in the public domain,” Peskov stated. He stated: “If we discuss any nuances related to the issue of exchange via media, no exchange will ever take place.”
People aware of the U.S. proposal have stated it envisions buying and selling Griner and Whelan for a infamous Russian arms dealer, Viktor Bout. He is serving a 25-year sentence within the U.S. after being convicted of conspiracy to kill U.S. residents and offering help to a terrorist group.
The name between Blinken and Lavrov marked the highest-level recognized contact between Washington and Moscow since Russia despatched troops into Ukraine greater than 5 months in the past, underlining the general public strain that the White House has confronted to get Griner launched.
Griner was arrested as she was returning to play for a group in Russia, the place she has competed since 2014. Blinken stated Friday that her conviction and sentence “compounds the injustice that has been done to her.”
“It puts a spotlight on our very significant concern with Russia’s legal system and the Russian government’s use of wrongful detentions to advance its own agenda using individuals as political pawns,” he stated.
On Thursday, Biden denounced the Russian decide’s verdict and sentence as “unacceptable” and stated he would proceed working to deliver Griner and Whelan residence.
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David Rising in Phnom Penh, Cambodia contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s protection of the Brittney Griner case at https://apnews.com/hub/brittney-griner
