United States of America he offered Russia A “significant offer” for the release of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, two Americans detained on Russian soilForeign Minister Antony Blinken reported on Wednesday.
The CNN television network stated that Washington would offer Moscow a prisoner exchange. Russian arms dealer to release Viktor Bout In exchange for the freedom of Griner and Whelan, which has yet to be confirmed by the authorities.
At a press conference, Blinken announced that he plans to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the coming days, which will be the first meeting between the two since the start of the conflict with Ukraine on February 24.
“When it comes to Americans arbitrarily and unjustly detained anywhere in the world, we have two priorities.“including Russia… they can be released and go home and work to prevent this horrible practice,” he said.
Griner is a basketball player accused of drug possession and trafficking. The double world and Olympic champion with his country was arrested at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport last February after customs officials found cannabis oil, a banned substance in Russia, among his belongings.
Whelan is a former Marine detained by Federal Security Service agents. (FSB, former KGB) sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2018, found guilty of “espionage activities” on behalf of the United States in a Moscow hotel.
Blinken pointed out that President Joe Biden was directly involved in the negotiations and authorized the proposal to Moscow.
Later, a White House spokesman, John Kirby, explained some details of the negotiation with Russia at a press conference.
he explained Washington made its offer to Moscow “a few weeks ago” and assured the White House that the Kremlin had made it clear that it was a “serious offer” to “take it seriously” so that Griner and Whelan could return home as soon as possible. “This is something that is a priority for the president,” Kirby said.
A little later, the Kremlin spokesman said, Dmitry Peskov has denied that an agreement has been reached for the swap for now..
Asked at a press conference on this proposal developed by Washington on Wednesday, Peskov said that when such statements are made, he assumes the issues are being discussed, but that progress has not been made at this time. “As there is no final agreement at this time, I have nothing more to add to what has been said.”According to the Russian news agency Interfax, the Kremlin spokesperson drew attention.
Source: Informacion
