WASHINGTON, DC — Former US diplomat
Bill Richardson said Sunday that he was
“optimistic” about efforts to negotiate a “two for two” prisoner swap with
Russia that would free US basketball star
Brittney Griner and another American.
اضافة اعلان
Richardson, a
former ambassador to the UN, has negotiated the release of several Americans
held in other countries. Reports last month said he was expected to travel to
Russia for talks over Griner, who on Thursday was sentenced to nine years in
prison on a drug charge.
While insisting
Sunday that he is only a “catalyst” in any negotiations, Richardson’s mention
of a “two-for-two” swap including Griner suggested inside knowledge.
“My view is, I’m
optimistic,” he told ABC’s “This Week.”
“I think she’s
going to be freed, I think she has the right strategy of contrition, there’s
going to be a prisoner swap — though I think it will be two for two, involving Paul
Whelan.”
Whelan is a former
US Marine who was convicted of espionage in June 2020 and sentenced to 16 years
in prison. He has insisted on his innocence.
His case and
Griner’s have been enmeshed in the deep US-Russia tensions since Russian troops
invaded Ukraine in February.
But recent
comments from both sides — including from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov — have suggested signs of movement,
and US President Joe Biden has faced repeated calls to arrange a deal.
Reports suggested
that Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death,”
might be freed in exchange for Griner and Whelan. The Kremlin has long sought
his release.
But Richardson’s
mention of a “two for two” swap raises questions about who the second Russian
in the equation might be.
And some Americans
have asked why Marc Fogel, a US citizen serving a 14-year sentence in Russia on
marijuana charges — which he said he had for medicinal purposes — has not been
mentioned.
Griner was
sentenced Thursday to nine years in a Russian penal colony and ordered to pay a
fine of one million rubles ($16,590) for smuggling narcotics.
She was arrested
at a
Moscow airport for possessing vape cartridges with a small amount of
cannabis oil.
The 31-year-old,
who was in Russia to play for the professional Yekaterinburg team during her
off-season from the Phoenix Mercury, said the substance was prescribed by a US
doctor to relieve pain.
The two-time
Olympic gold medalist and Women’s NBA champion pleaded guilty but said she did
not intend to break the law.
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