The tradeoff offered by Washington to Moscow with the approval of President Joe Biden (and despite the objections of the US Department of Justice), is Russian convicted arms dealer Victor Bout serving a prison sentence in the US.
He received coldly Russia the American proposal to exchange two American citizens held in Russia for an arms dealer imprisoned in the United States, according to the American network CNN.
At a press conference held Wednesday at the State Department, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said the US government had proposed to Moscow the release of basketball player Brittney Griner and former Marine Paul Whelan, noting that he hoped to advance the process when he spoke with Sergey Lavrov in the coming days.
The tradeoff offered by Washington to Moscow with the approval of President Joe Biden (and despite the objections of the US Department of Justice), is the Russian convicted as an arms dealer Victor Booth (photo) serving a prison sentence in the US.
However, a senior administration official in Washington clarified to CNN that Moscow did not respond to the “substantial offer” first presented in June, saying that “it takes two to tango.”
“We are opening all negotiations to bring home Americans who are being held hostage or held illegally with a ‘bad actor’ on the other side. We are starting all this with someone who has taken an American and treated him as a bargaining chip,” the official said.
As he typically mentioned, the other side does not participate constructively in the negotiations, which is disappointing.
The US official declined to comment on the details of the “substantial offer”. He said the ball is “in Russia’s court” to respond to the American proposal, but “at the same time this does not leave us passive as we continue to communicate the offer at a much higher level.”
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