U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the United States has made a "substantial offer" to Russia for the release of Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner, two Americans held in Russian jails on charges that the United States says are politically motivated.
Blinken did not offer details on the proposed deal when he disclosed it on July 27 at a news conference at the State Department. It was offered weeks ago and he said he expects to speak with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about it.
"I plan to raise an issue that's a top priority for us: the release of Americans Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner who've been wrongfully detained and must be allowed to come home," Blinken said.
"There was a substantial proposal on the table weeks ago to facilitate their release. Our governments have communicated repeatedly and directly on that proposal, and I'll use the conversation to follow up personally and I hope move us toward a resolution," he told reporters.
If the call takes place, it would be the first one-to-one contact between the two diplomats since a few days before Russia invaded Ukraine.
Griner is being held on drug-smuggling charges and testified at her own trial on July 27 in a courtroom outside Moscow. Whelan, a former U.S. marine, was detained in December 2018 and accused of espionage.
U.S. and Russian media have reported that the United States could seek the release of Griner and Whelan in exchange for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms trader currently serving a 25-year sentence in the United States after being convicted of conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens and providing aid to a terrorist organization.
Blinken would not comment on whether the deal offered to Moscow was a prisoner exchange involving Bout.
U.S. officials and prominent athletes say Griner has been wrongly detained and is being used as a political pawn to secure the release of the Russian or relief from sanctions imposed by Washington over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Kremlin has said the case against Griner has nothing to do with politics and that she should be tried for violating Russian laws.
Griner said earlier on July 27 in her testimony at the Khimki district court outside Moscow that authorities who arrested her at a Moscow airport in February failed to provide an explanation of her rights and did not fully translate all that was said during her arrest.
She said she was pulled aside at the airport after inspectors found cannabis oil in vape cartridges in her luggage.
Seated in the defendant's cage, the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) star said she was provided with a translator, but he only said "sign this, sign that."
The interpreter “didn’t explain the content of the paper,” Griner said. “I didn’t know exactly what I was signing.”
In addition, she said she received neither an explanation of her rights nor access to a lawyer.
Griner, 31, said before she was arrested officers removed vape cartridges from her luggage, opened them, and sniffed their contents.
She explained that she had a doctor’s recommendation for medicinal cannabis for treatment of pain from injuries sustained during her basketball career. Medical cannabis remains illegal in Russia, and Griner faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of transporting drugs.
Griner, who was stopped at the airport while returning to play in the Russian league for the Yekaterinburg team, pleaded guilty earlier in the trial but denied she intended to break Russian law.
"I did not think of or plan to bring banned substances into Russia," Griner reiterated in her testimony on July 27.
Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist in basketball for the United States, is currently is missing the 2022 WNBA season in which her team, the Phoenix Mercury, continues to keep her detention in the public eye and pressure the U.S. government to do more on her behalf.