MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin on Wednesday stored the door open for talks on a potential swap involving jailed U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner however reiterated that any such discussions have to be stored strictly confidential.
A Russian courtroom on Tuesday rejected Griner’s attraction in opposition to her nine-year jail sentence for drug possession. The eight-time all-star middle with the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury and a two-time Olympic gold medalist was convicted Aug. 4 after police stated they discovered vape canisters containing hashish oil in her baggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.
Asked if Griner may very well be freed as a part of a prisoners swap with Washington, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated in a convention name with reporters that “we always say that any contacts about possible exchanges can only be conducted in silence under a tight lid on any information.”
Griner’s arrest in February got here at a time of heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington, simply days earlier than Russia despatched troops into Ukraine. At the time, Griner was returning to play for a Russian crew in the course of the WNBA’s offseason.
President Joe Biden informed reporters that his administration is in “constant contact” with Russian authorities on Griner and different Americans who’re detained there. While there has not been progress on bringing her again to the U.S., Biden stated, “We’re not stopping.”
At her trial, Griner admitted to having the canisters in her baggage however testified she packed them inadvertently in her haste to make her flight and had no legal intent. Her protection crew offered written statements saying she had been prescribed hashish to deal with persistent ache.
Before her conviction, the U.S. State Department declared Griner to be “wrongfully detained” — a cost that Russia has sharply rejected.
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan stated in an announcement that Biden “is willing to go to extraordinary lengths and make tough decisions to bring Americans home.”
In July, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated in an uncommon step that Washington had made a “substantial proposal” to Moscow get Griner house, together with Paul Whelan, an American serving a 16-year sentence in Russia for espionage.
He didn’t elaborate, however The Associated Press and different information organizations have reported that Washington has supplied to alternate Griner and Whelan for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms supplier who’s serving a 25-year sentence within the U.S. and as soon as earned the nickname the “merchant of death.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com”