President Joe Biden is expected to meet with family members of WNBA superstar Brittney Griner and Michigan security executive Paul Whelan, both of whom the administration considers wrongfully detained in Russia, at the White House on Friday.
The meetings, which will occur separately, are the first in-person encounters the president has had with either family, though they have communicated over the phone this summer, according to the Associated Press.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said at the White House podium on Thursday that the president will meet with Cherelle Griner, Brittney’s wife, and Elizabeth Whelan, Paul’s sister.
“While I would love to say that the purpose of this meeting is to inform the families that the Russians have accepted our offer and we are bringing their loved ones home, that’s not what we’re seeing in these negotiations at this time,” she said.
Biden administration officials revealed in July that they had made a “substantial proposal” to the Kremlin to secure Whelan and Griner’s release, but there are no indications that a deal is imminent.
Jean-Pierre added, “We have followed up on that offer repeatedly and will continue to pursue every avenue to bring them home safely,” and said the president hopes to convey that “they remain front of mind and his team is working on this every day.”
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When asked for an update on the negotiations on Monday, a State Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner: “The U.S. government continues to urge Russia to release wrongfully detained Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan. We are closely engaged on these cases and in frequent contact with Ms. Griner’s and Mr. Whelan’s legal teams.”
Griner was sentenced last month to nine years in prison after pleading guilty on drug-related charges that stem from her bringing cannabis vaping cartridges through a Moscow airport in February. She has been detained since, and the administration determined this spring that she met the government’s guidelines for a wrongful detention designation.
Whelan is serving a 16-year prison sentence on espionage-related charges that he and his family vehemently deny.
The Russians have sought the release of convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout, who has been dubbed the “Merchant of Death” because he has been accused of selling arms to sanctioned human rights abusers in Angola, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Congo, according to Amnesty International.
The United States has offered to give up Bout in exchange for Whelan and Griner, though Russia has also reportedly sought the return of Vadim Krasikov, a former colonel from the country’s domestic spy agency who was convicted of the murder of a former Chechen fighter in Germany in 2019 and sentenced to life in prison.
Earlier this week, CNN reported that former Gov. Bill Richardson, who has long become an advocate seeking to help Americans wrongfully detained abroad, traveled to Russia. It’s unclear why exactly he was there, and a spokesperson for the Richardson Center declined to comment, though the representative previously told the Washington Examiner that “both the Whelan and Griner families have asked us to help with the release of their loved ones.”
National Security Council coordinator John Kirby bristled at Richardson’s travel in an interview on CNN Wednesday.
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“Our message is that private citizens should not be in Moscow at all right now and that private citizens cannot negotiate on behalf of the United States government. Look, we share Mr. Richardson’s desire to see Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan home with their families and her teammates where she belongs and where he belongs, and we’re working very, very hard through government channels. That’s the appropriate way to do that, and those efforts are ongoing.”
The U.S. and Russia agreed in the spring to swap Trevor Reed for another Russian serving time in a U.S. prison, drug trafficker Konstantin Yaroshenko. There was no warning about this possible swap before it was already commencing for comparison, though his family met in the weeks leading up to the trade.
