sport news Russia is NOT willing to engage Brittney Griner, Paul Whelan prisoner swap, ... trends now
Russian government officials have not shown any willingness to engage with the United States on discussions about prisoner swaps involving American basketball star Brittney Griner and former Marine Paul Whelan, both of whom are being held in the country.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Thursday that the US put together 'a series of proposals' for the Kremlin, which has not engaged on the subject.
The development is the latest discouraging news facing Griner, who is on her way to a penal colony to serve a nine-year drug sentence, and Whelan, who was arrested in the country in 2018 on espionage charges. The 52-year-old is being held in a high-security prison, IK-17, roughly eight hours southeast of Moscow.
President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he hopes Russian President Vladimir Putin will show more willingness to negotiate on Griner and Whelan's freedom now that the US midterm elections are over.
'My hope is that now that the election is over, that Mr. Putin will be able to discuss with us and be willing to talk more seriously about a prisoner exchange,' Biden told reporters at a news conference.
Russian government officials have not shown any willingness to engage with the United States on discussions about prisoner swaps involving American basketball star Brittney Griner (left) and former Marine Paul Whelan (right), both of whom are being held in the country
President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he hopes Russian President Vladimir Putin will show more willingness to negotiate on Griner and Whelan's freedom now that the US midterm elections are over
Griner's legal efforts to escape a nine-year drug sentence in a Russian penal colony have been exhausted, and now the American basketball star is facing 'harsh' and even 'life-threatening' conditions, according to a 2021 State Department report on human rights issues within the country.
Well-known Russian dissident Nadezhda Tolokonnikova described one camp in 2013 as having 'slavery-like conditions,' where she worked in a sewing shop for '16 to 17 hours a day' while getting 'four hours of sleep a night.' And even when she is permitted to rest, the
