Russia Says It Will Discuss US Prisoner Swap Offer Involving Brittney Griner

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Friday he was ready to meet with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to discuss a prisoner exchange deal for NBA star Britney Grenier.

Blinken said Wednesday that Washington had offered Russia a deal that would return Grenier and American Paul Whelan. A source familiar with the matter said the US government had offered to trade Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout for Whelan & Greiner.

During a visit to Uzbekistan, Lavrov said his ministry had received an official US summons request following Blinken's announcement. A senior Russian diplomat said he was ready when he returned to Moscow and that the call was planned.

Lavrov said he was open to talks about a prisoner exchange, although the State Ministry had not been involved in previous talks on the issue.

"I will listen to what has to be said," Lavrov added.

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Asked about the U.S. proposal on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said talks on the prisoner exchange would normally take place behind the scenes.

"We know that such issues are discussed without disclosing this information," Peskov told reporters in a conference call. "The public usually knows when deals actually get done."

Blinken's comments were the first time the US government has publicly disclosed the specific steps it took to secure Grenier's release. Phoenix Mercury, a two-time Olympian and WNBA player, was detained at a Moscow airport in mid-February when inspectors found e-cigarette cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage.

Greiner's arrest comes amid heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington ahead of the February 24 invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops. Greiner's five-month ban drew harsh criticism from his U.S. teammates and supporters.

The Reverend Al Sharpton and Britney Greiner's wife, Sheryl Greiner, came out Friday to thank the WNBA star for still being imprisoned in Russia and their support, including President Joe Biden.

His drug trial began this month in a suburban Moscow court, where he testified Wednesday that he did not know how the bullets got into his pocket but that a doctor had advised him to use cannabis to treat pain at work.

The 31-year-old pleaded guilty but said he had no criminal intent to take the cartridges to Russia and took the packages back to the Russian Basketball League in the WNBA. If convicted of drug smuggling, he faces up to ten years in prison.

The Biden administration came under political pressure to release Greiner and other Americans "wrongfully imprisoned" by the United States, a claim Russian officials vehemently denied.

Whelan, the head of corporate security in Michigan, was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020 for espionage. He and his family strongly protested his innocence. The US Government has dismissed these claims as false.

For years, Russia has been trying to free Russian arms dealer Bot, once nicknamed the "Dealer of Death." In 2012, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for conspiring to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons illegally.

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