US has ‘frank talk’ with Russia over prisoner swap
‘I pressed the Kremlin to accept the substantial proposal that we put forth on the release of Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner’
AMERICA’S top diplomat has spoken with his Russian counterpart for the first time since the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine to pressure Russia to agree to a prisoner exchange proposal.
“We had a frank and direct conversation,” Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, said of his call with Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister.
“I pressed the Kremlin to accept the substantial proposal that we put forth on the release of Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner,” he said.
The US has not revealed what it is offering Moscow in exchange for the release of Griner, a women’s basketball star and Whelan, a former US marine.
But sources suggest Washington was willing to exchange Viktor Bout, a Russian arms trafficker, who is serving a 25 year-prison sentence in the US.
The rare proposal from Washington has come as Joe Biden faces renewed pressure from the families of the American detainees to secure their release.
“It’s clear this is unlikely to work out today. But in the coming days we will offer our American colleagues a convenient date,” Mr Lavrov said.
Mr Blinken said he also stressed that the world expected Russia to fulfil its commitments to reopen grain and fertiliser exports under a deal it has struck with Ukraine.
It came as Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise visit to a Black Sea port yesterday to observe crews preparing for the first grain shipment to be exported since the war in Ukraine began.
Last week, Turkey and the United Nations brokered a deal that was signed separately by Ukraine and Russia to allow the safe passage of grain.
However, hours after the deal was signed, Russia conducted a missile strike on Odesa.
Speaking from a port in Chornomorsk in the Odesa region yesterday, Mr Zelensky said: “The first vessel, the first ship, is being loaded since the beginning of the war.”
He added that the departure of wheat and other grain would begin with several ships that were already loaded but could not leave Ukrainian ports after Russia invaded in late February.
“It is important for us that Ukraine remains the guarantor of global food security,” Mr Zelensky added.
Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s minister of infrastructure said that while exports can soon resume, his country is waiting for the UN to confirm the safe corridors that will be used by ships.
Martin Griffiths, the UN official who mediated the deals, cautioned that work was still being done to finalise the exact co-ordinates of the safest routes, saying this must be “absolutely nailed down”.
A four-month target has been set to export 20 million tons of grain in three Ukrainian sea ports, blocked since the invasion on February 24.
That provides time for about four to five large bulk carriers per day to transport grain from the ports to Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
Ensuring the export of wheat, barley, corn, sunflower oil and fertiliser is also critical for Ukrainian farmers, who are running out of storage capacity amid a new harvest.
Lloyd’s List cautioned that while UN officials had pushed for the initial voyage this week to show progress in the deal, continued uncertainty on key details would likely prevent a rampingup of shipments.
The deal stipulates that Russia and Ukraine will provide “maximum assurances” for ships through the Black Sea to the Ukrainian ports of Odessa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny. For vessels heading to Ukraine’s three ports, smaller pilot boats will guide them through approved corridors.