Russia Confirms 'Ongoing' Prisoner Swap Talks With US For Brittney Griner

The Kremlin on Thursday confirmed it is currently in talks with the United States on potentially swapping detained American basketball star Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan for an imprisoned Russian arms dealer.

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said respective officials for Russia and the U.S. are now conducting negotiations. However, she noted that the parties have yet to reach a deal.

“They’re ongoing. A concrete result has not yet been achieved,” Zakharova said in a statement. “At the same time, we proceed from the fact that the interests of both parties should be taken into account in the course of the negotiation process.”

Griner is now facing up to 10 years in prison on a drug-possession charge after Moscow authorities found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage when she flew into Russia in February to play at the Russian Women’s Basketball Premier League. Cannabis is considered illegal in Russia.

Griner on Wednesday attended her drug possession trial where she testified that an interpreter only translated a fraction of what was being said to her while she was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport. The basketball star also said that officials asked her to sign documents without offering an explanation about the papers.

Whelan, a U.S. citizen, has been detained in Russia since 2019 on espionage charges, for which he received a 16-year prison sentence. Whelan, who also has British, Irish and Canadian citizenship, was getting dressed for a friend’s wedding when Russian intelligence officials stormed his room in Moscow’s Metropol hotel. He has consistently denied his espionage charges.

Both Griner and Whelan could be exchanged with Viktor Bout, a 55-year-old high-profile Russian prisoner known as the world’s most notorious arms dealer prior to his arrest. A U.S. court convicted Bout in 2011 and placed him in a prison in Illinois.

The U.S. said Bout filled Soviet military transport planes with weapons and sold the arms primarily in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. According to NPR, Bout often sold weapons to governments fighting rebels and vice versa. Bout has denied his charges, arguing that he was selling flowers and frozen chickens in violent places.

Despite the Kremlin’s confirmation of a possible prisoner exchange, Bout’s wife Alla said her husband knew nothing about the deal, as per The Moscow Times.