US WNBA basketball superstar Brittney Greener arrives for a court hearing in Khimki, outside Moscow on July 27, 2022.
Kiril Kudryavtsev | AFP | Getty Images
WASHINGTON — The United States has made an offer to the Russian government to release WNBA star Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whalen, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Wednesday.
“We put a substantial proposal on the table weeks ago,” Blinken told reporters at the State Department.
The nation’s top diplomat also said he would discuss the proposal with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov “in the coming days.”
“Our government has communicated repeatedly and directly about this proposal, and I will use the conversation to personally follow up and hopefully move us toward a resolution,” Blinken said.
Blinken declined to share further details about the US bid when pressed by reporters.
“When it comes to our efforts to secure the return home of Paul Whelan and Brittney Greener, you understand that I cannot and will not go into any of the details of what we have been offering to the Russians for so many weeks,” he said.
The Biden administration has described Greener’s arrest, a dramatic reversal that comes as the Kremlin prepares for war in Ukraine, as wrongful detention. She pleaded guilty to drug charges in a Moscow court earlier this month and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.
“I’m terrified that I could be here forever,” the Olympian wrote in a letter to Biden earlier this month, asking him for direct help with her case.
After the letter, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke with WNBA star Cheryl Greener’s wife.
Biden assured her wife that he was working to get Griner released as soon as possible, according to a White House release of the conversation. He said during the call that he was working to free Whelan, who is serving a 16-year sentence in Russia.
U.S. WNBA basketball superstar Brittney Greener stands in a dock before a court hearing in Khimki, outside Moscow on July 26, 2022.
Alexander Zemlyanchenko | AFP | Getty Images
Last week, President Joe Biden signed an executive order that will expand the administration’s tools available to deter the hostage-taking and wrongful detention of American citizens.
The executive order, known as “Strengthening Efforts to Return Hostages and Wrongfully Detained United States Citizens Home,” would authorize the imposition of financial penalties and visa bans on people involved in hostage-taking.
“This executive order reflects the administration’s commitment not only to the issues in general, but to families in particular, and is informed by the government’s regular engagement with them,” a senior Biden administration official said on July 19, speaking on condition of anonymity. to share details about the new executive order.
In April, Russia agreed to release former US Marine Trevor Reed in a prisoner swap with the United States.
Reed was accused of assaulting a Russian officer and detained by authorities there in 2019. He was later sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison. Reid and his family maintain that he is innocent, and the US government describes him as unjustly imprisoned.
For Reed’s release, Biden agreed to release Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison for conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the United States.
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