Veteran emissary hopeful for Griner, Whelan swap
Bill Richardson, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and a frequent emissary in hostage negotiations, said Tuesday he was hopeful about the chances of a two-for-two prisoner swap that could result in Russia’s release of WNBA star Brittney Griner and another jailed American, Paul Whelan.
In cases like this, Richardson said in an interview with The Associated Press, “it’s proportional — two-for two.”
Richardson, who traveled to Russia in advance of the release by Moscow of Marine veteran Trevor Reed in an April prisoner swap, declined to discuss the current status of negotiations with Russia over Griner or Whelan or to explain what role he may be playing in the talks.
But he said he felt “relatively positive” for several reasons. For one, the conclusion of the criminal case against Griner — she was convicted and sentenced to nine years on drug charges — provides an opening for diplomatic negotiations to begin in earnest. Plus, he said, the U.S. and
Russia have already shown a willingness to carry out prisoner swaps, as evidenced by the Reed exchange. And Griner’s strategy of expressing contrition before a Russian court was important.
“And that is why I think a two-for-two deal is hopefully a likely outcome,” Richardson said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken took the unusual step of revealing publicly that the U.S. made a “substantial proposal” to get Griner and Whelan home. He did not elaborate, but the AP and other news organizations have reported that the U.S. has offered to free Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who is serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S. and once earned the nickname the “Merchant of Death.”
Russia made a counteroffer that the U.S. did not regard as serious, the White House has said.
Griner has acknowledged she had vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage when she was arrested at a Moscow airport in February. She has insisted that she had no criminal intent and that the canisters ended up in her luggage because she was packing hastily.
Whelan, a corporate security executive from Michigan, was sentenced in 2020 to 16 years on espionage-related charges he and his family say are manufactured.