Russian President Vladimir Putin stated extra prisoner swaps between america and Russia are “doable” after the 2 international locations agreed on Thursday to commerce WNBA star Brittney Griner for Russian arms seller Viktor Bout.
Russia’s state-run RIA information company reported on Friday that Putin instructed reporters that the deal was the results of negotiations and compromises, and that Russian officers won’t refuse to maintain on the lookout for them sooner or later.
He stated that Russia’s Federal Safety Service was answerable for negotiating the trade.
America secured Griner’s launch after she was imprisoned in Russia for greater than 9 months, shortly earlier than Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine started.
Griner was arrested on drug expenses after vape cartridges had been discovered on her. She was discovered responsible of the fees and sentenced to 9 years in jail, being transferred to a penal colony final month.
Bout was serving a 25-year sentence on quite a lot of expenses, together with conspiring to kill US residents and aiding a terrorist group.
The Biden administration has been attempting for months to barter with Russia over the return of Griner and former Marine Paul Whelan, who US officers say had been detained on trumped-up expenses, however President Biden stated Russia was treating Whelan’s case in a different way. and I would not. embody him in Griner’s deal for the Bout.
Whelan was arrested in Russia in 2018 on espionage expenses and is serving a 16-year jail sentence.
Some have criticized the Biden administration for failing to safe Whelan’s freedom within the deal that launched Griner, however officers have pressured that they plan to proceed searching for Whelan’s launch.
CNN reported that US officers provided Russia a number of choices for Russian prisoners in trade for Whelan’s launch, however Russia would solely take into account a deal if it obtained former Colonel Vadim Krasikov, a Russian spy serving a life sentence for homicide in Germany.
The German authorities was unwilling to work with america to free Krasikov.
“We have proven an openness to speak about what’s actually obtainable to us and we solely acquired a requirement again for one thing that is not obtainable to us,” a senior Biden administration official instructed CNN.