Russia has indicated it is ready to open private discussions between President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding a prisoner swap to free Brittney Griner, just one day after the WNBA player was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Russia’s foreign ministry indicated it would be willing to discuss a prisoner exchange through already agreed-upon channels, warning the United States not to resort to “megaphone diplomacy.” The Kremlin has previously been quiet on the prospects of a prisoner swap to free Griner, maintaining that if exchanges were reported in the media, the country would halt negotiations.
BRITTNEY GRINER TRIAL: WNBA STAR FOUND GUILTY AND SENTENCED TO NINE YEARS
“There is a specified channel that has been agreed upon by [Putin and Biden], and no matter what anyone says publicly, this channel will remain in effect,” Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, told reporters at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit on Friday. “The Americans have already made that mistake, suddenly deciding to use megaphone diplomacy to resolve these issues. This is not how they are resolved.”
Griner was found guilty on Thursday of smuggling drugs into Russia and was sentenced to nine years in a penal colony. The basketball star was initially detained in February, but Russian officials said a verdict had to be made in her case before discussing a prisoner exchange.
Griner had pleaded guilty to the charges, hoping her statements of remorse would sway the judge to give her a more lenient sentence. She testified she uses cannabis oil in the U.S. for chronic pain but knew that carrying cannabis to Russia was illegal.
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U.S. officials responded to Griner’s nine-year sentence shortly after it was handed down on Thursday, with Biden calling it “unacceptable.”
Griner’s case has taken on international importance, and her fate is tied to icy U.S.-Russian diplomatic relations as well as the release of other Americans detained in the country. The prisoner exchange would also include talks to free Paul Whelan, a former Marine who has been held in Russian detention since 2018 and was convicted in 2020 on espionage charges.
