The White House stressed President Joe Biden‘s efforts to bring Americans home after it was announced that two Russian nationals have been arrested on smuggling charges.
The Russians were arrested along with several others and charged with evading sanctions to smuggle U.S. military technology, which was then used in Ukraine, Bloomberg reported. A reporter asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday if that affected the negotiations over bringing Brittney Griner home.
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“We will continue to work through our established channels until this moves from a priority to a reality,” Jean-Pierre said of Griner. “We’ve had success bringing Americans home from Russia, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Burma, Haiti, West Africa, and more.”
Griner has been detained in Russia on marijuana charges since February, and it is believed that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to release her only in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who has been nicknamed the “Merchant of Death.”
Jean-Pierre didn’t get into specifics but indicated that bringing Griner and other Americans home is a top priority for Biden.
“The president is willing to go to extraordinary lengths to bring Americans home,” she said. “The Russians need to negotiate in good faith. They need to do that in order to resolve the situation.”
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The two arrested Russians are Yury Orekhov and Artem Uss, who are co-owners of Hamburg-based Nord-Deutsche Industrieanlagenbau, an industrial firm. Three other Russian nationals have been charged with evading sanctions.
