The Secretary of State publicly requested the call and revealed this week the U.S. had made Russia an offer that would bring home Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan.
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he spoke to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov by phone on Friday and urged Moscow to accept a U.S. offer to release WNBA star Brittney Griner and another American detainee, Paul Whelan.
It was Blinken's first talk with his Russian counterpart since before Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February.
Blinken did not provide details of Lavrov’s response to what he had previously called a “substantial proposal" for Russia to release Whelan and Griner.
Blinken had publicly requested the call and revealed the existence of the offer to Russia — which people familiar with it say involves a swap for Whelan and Griner with convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Blinken described the call as “a frank and direct conversation” centered primarily on the proposal for the release of the Americans.
“I urged Foreign Minister Lavrov to move forward with that proposal. I can’t give you an assessment of whether that is any more or less likely.”
Blinken also said he had pressed Lavrov on the importance of Russia following through on an agreement to allow Ukrainian grain shipments to leave the Black Sea and warned him of consequences should Moscow move ahead with suspected plans to annex portions of eastern and southern Ukraine.
On Thursday, the Kremlin warned a possible prisoner swap with the United States needs to be negotiated quietly without fanfare.
Asked about the U.S. offer, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov replied that prisoner swaps were typically negotiated discreetly behind the scenes.
“We know that such issues are discussed without any such release of information,” Peskov told reporters during a conference call. “Normally, the public learns about it when the agreements are already implemented.”
He emphasized that “no agreements have been finalized” and refused to provide further details.
In a separate statement, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Russian and U.S. officials have conducted negotiations about possible prisoner exchanges and “there has been no concrete result yet.”
“We proceed from the assumption that interests of both parties should be taken into account during the negotiations,” Zakharova said.
Blinken’s comments on Wednesday marked the first time the U.S. government publicly revealed any concrete action it has taken to secure Griner's release. The two-time Olympic gold medalist and player for the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury was arrested at a Moscow airport in mid-February when inspectors found vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage.
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