US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said that he will speak with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in a phone call in the coming days and pressed him to respond to an offer Washington has made to secure the release of American citizens detained by Moscow.
Speaking at a news conference at the State Department, Blinken said, “in the coming days, I expect to speak with Russian FM Sergey Lavrov for the first time since the war (in Ukraine) began and address the release of Brittney Griner & Paul Whelan. We gave a substantial proposal weeks ago to facilitate their release.” Blinken said the United States had communicated a “substantial offer” to Moscow in order to bring home basketball star Brittney Griner and former US Marine Paul Whelan, although he declined to disclose what the deal would entail.
“We put a substantial proposal on the table weeks ago to facilitate their release,” said Blinken.
The statement marked the first time the US government has publicly revealed any concrete action it has taken to secure the release of Griner, who was arrested on drug-related charges at a Moscow airport in February and testified Wednesday at her trial.
As per reports, the Biden administration has proposed returning convicted arms merchant Viktor Bout to Russia in exchange for the release of detained Americans Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, reported New York Post.
“We communicated a substantial offer that we believe could be successful based on a history of conversations with the Russians,” a senior administration official told CNN. “We communicated that a number of weeks ago, in June.”
Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death,” is serving 25 years in a US prison after he was convicted in 2011 of conspiracy to kill Americans, providing aid to a terrorist organization, and other charges.
According to CNN, President Biden has come around to supporting the exchange for Bout after months of internal debate, overriding opposition by the Justice Department.
The official said it was up to Russia to respond to the proposed swap, “yet at the same time that does not leave us passive, as we continue to communicate the offer at very senior levels.”
Meanwhile, Blinken underscored that the phone call “in the coming days” with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov “will not be a negotiation about Ukraine.”
He also talked about the grain deal that was signed in Istanbul, saying that Russia must honour the deal it struck with the UN, Turkey, and Ukraine to be able to allow the export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea.
Blinken said that the Ukraine war has weakened Russia profoundly.
“Moscow is cherry-picking economic data to support insistence that everything is fine when this is simply not true,” he said.
He also said that Moscow is laying the groundwork to add more Ukrainian territory.
“Annexation by force is a gross violation of the UN charter,” he added.