Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced his plans to speak with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov to facilitate the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan.
The United States submitted a substantial proposal for their release, he said according to a July 27 release.
“In the coming days, I expect to speak with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov for the first time since the war began. I plan to raise an issue that's a top priority for us: the release of Americans Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner, who have been wrongfully detained and must be allowed to come home,” Blinken said in the release. “We put a substantial proposal on the table weeks ago to facilitate their release. Our governments have communicated repeatedly and directly on that proposal.”
It is still unclear what the offer to Russia for the release of Griner and Whelan entails and if it will be enough to secure the release of the two Americans, CBS News reported.
But CBS News said media outlets in Russia speculated a prisoner swap for Viktor Bout was on the table. Bout is a Russian arms dealer serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S. after being convicted of conspiring to sell weapons to people who have the intent to kill Americans. However, this has not been confirmed and remains purely speculation, CBS News said.
Griner was arrested in February at an airport in Moscow after customs officials said they discovered vape cartridges containing THC in her luggage, according to CBS News. Whelan has been in Russian custody since 2018 after he went to the country for a friend's wedding and was arrested on, and later convicted of, espionage charges. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020.
