Russia is using American detainees, many of them innocent, as hostages — bargaining chips to release convicted criminals and spies in U.S. prisons. The U.S. government must not dance to President Vladimir Putin‘s waltz.
Instead, Washington should adopt the same approach it applies to terrorist groups who take Americans hostage: When faced with aggression, exert increased pressure.
WNBA star Brittney Griner was arrested in February at one of Moscow’s international airports after customs officers found cannabis vape cartridges in her luggage. Cannabis is illegal in Russia, and the punishment is quite disproportionate to the crime. On Thursday, Griner pleaded guilty, telling a Moscow court that she was “in a rush packing, and the cartridges accidentally ended up in my bag.” But the timing of Griner’s arrest, just one week before Russia began its war in Ukraine and in the context of Russia’s recent conduct toward other American visitors, raises serious concerns.
Consider the situation of Trevor Reed, a former U.S. Marine. Reed was sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison in 2020 after supposedly attacking a police officer during a drunken night out. The evidence presented against Reed lacked credibility. Indeed, U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan went so far as to state that Reed’s supposed offense “obviously did not occur.” Reed was released in April but only after the Biden administration agreed to a prisoner swap for a drug trafficker imprisoned in the United States, Konstantin Yaroshenko.
That swap, an innocent American for a guilty Russian, speaks to the Kremlin’s strategy now. Americans are being detained and given long, punishing sentences not because they committed serious crimes but because Putin’s government views them as useful bargaining chips. The same principle applies to Paul Whelan, an American who was imprisoned after falling for a spy plot concocted by Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB.
Putin’s regime views Griner, a high-profile athlete who is both black and openly lesbian, as a valuable foreign policy asset. Russian officials can demean Griner for her race and sexuality without significant domestic backlash while putting extra pressure on the Biden administration to make concessions to secure her release in a prisoner exchange.
The Kremlin will certainly be celebrating the understandable sentiment of Griner’s wife, who this week spoke with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and called on them to do “whatever is necessary” to bring the WNBA star home. But the Biden administration’s negotiation over Reed has taught the Kremlin that it can play this sick game and win. Moscow likely believes that Griner offers a bargaining chip to secure the freedom of its biggest fish in U.S. prisons. Viktor Bout, an arms dealer sentenced to 25 years in U.S. prison for supplying weapons to Colombian terrorists and conspiring to kill Americans, must not be released for any reason.
And so Biden must also not allow Russia to believe that a trade for Bout or any other Russian is on the table. Instead, the president should employ the same strategy he has applied in response to Russian aggression in other domains, such as cyberwarfare and Ukraine. Washington should seize more Russian government- and oligarch-affiliated funds. It should also increase sanctions on all those affiliated with the Russian criminal justice system. If even midranking officials, prosecutors, and judges from the Russian courts, Investigative Committee of Russia (its federal prosecution agency), and Ministry of Internal Affairs cannot easily vacation abroad or move money around foreign accounts, then the Kremlin’s appetite for hostage taking will wane. The key is to make the Kremlin pay for its gamble in a manner that incurs direct pain instead of creating a political benefit.
There is a broader principle at stake. In recent years, China has conducted its own hostage taking adventurism in response to legitimate U.S. prosecutions of such Chinese citizens as Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou. If the U.S. fails to take a stand against Russia, China will find encouragement to expand its own hostage racket.
The U.S. must not yield to Putin’s blackmail. This is a test of resolve. The only appropriate response is to make Russia pay an escalating cost for what it is doing. The U.S. does not negotiate with terrorists — it should not negotiate over Moscow’s terrorist-style activity.
