Russia ready to discuss prisoner swap with US as Washington seeks to free Brittney Griner

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday said Moscow is ready to discuss prisoner exchange through a diplomatic channel agreed upon by both countries. According to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, Lavrov said, "On the matter of persons who are convicted in Russia and in the United States ... there is a specified channel that has been agreed upon by [Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden], and no matter what anyone says publicly, this channel will remain in effect".

"We are ready to discuss this topic, but within the framework of the channel that has been agreed by the presidents," Lavrov added.

While US-Russia ties were already tense over Washington supporting Ukraine in war, the issue of prisoner exchange between both countries also gained momentum in recent days. Russia on Thursday sentenced US basketball star Brittney Griner to nine years in prison over drug smuggling as US President Joe Biden called the ruling "unacceptable".

As per reports, Russian judge Anna Sotnikova told a court in the town of Khimki that the court found Griner “guilty” of smuggling and possessing “a significant amount of narcotics”. The American basketball star was sentenced to nine years in prison and has to pay a fine of one million rubles ($16,590).

Following the sentencing, Biden issued a statement saying, "Russia is wrongfully detaining Brittney. It's unacceptable and I call on Russia to release her immediately so she can be with her wife, loved ones, friends and teammates."

US offers Russia 'serious proposal' to free Griner

Prior to Lavrov's remarks on Friday, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby on Thursday said that US offered a “serious proposal” to Moscow to free American basketball star, Brittney Griner. Following Griner’s sentencing, during a press conference, Kirby said, “What I can tell you is that we put forth a serious proposal.  And I know everybody is making some assumptions here about what that proposal is; I won’t go into detail about it."

He added, “But it’s a serious proposal.  We urge them to accept it.  They should have accepted it weeks ago when we first made it.”

Image: AP