A Russian diplomat said on Saturday (13) that Moscow and Washington were negotiating a possible prisoner exchange to free American basketball star Brittney Griner, confirming the name of Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout – who is being held in the United States – as a possible return. .
In an interview with state news agency Tass, Russian Foreign Ministry director Alexander Darchiev said that talks on the “very sensitive issue” involving the prisoner exchange are taking place through channels designated by Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin. .
According to him, the name of the trafficker is being effectively taken into account. “Russia has long sought the release of Viktor Bout,” he said.
Known as the “Merchant of Death”, Bout was arrested in Bangkok, Thailand, in an operation by the US Drug Enforcement Agency, in 2008, and extradited to New York in 2010. Serving a sentence of 25 years in prison, he became famous for inspiring the movie “Lord of Arms”, starring Nicolas Cage.
In July, the White House had proposed handing over the drug dealer in exchange for Brittney Griner and ex-military Paul Whelan, both detained in Russia, but only now has Moscow confirmed the existence of negotiations.
Griner was arrested on Feb. 17 at Sheremetievo International Airport near Moscow on charges of carrying cartridges of hash oil — a cannabis-derived substance that is illegal in Russia — to be used in an e-cigarette.
Shortly after being arrested, Griner pleaded guilty before a Russian court to bringing the hash oil into the country, but has always maintained that he did not want to, saying he did not know how the substance ended up in his luggage. In the US, she has a prescription to use marijuana medically to treat chronic pain — which would be common among elite athletes.
In early August, the basketball player was sentenced to nine years in prison, in a case that helped add temperature to the growing diplomatic tension between Moscow and Washington, mobilizing the sports community as well.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken even accused the Russian government of using individuals as political pawns. “[A prisão e a sentença] demonstrate Moscow’s use of unlawful detention to further its own agenda,” he said.
The matter even reached the final hearing in Griner’s case, which asked the court not to see it from that perspective. “I know everybody keeps talking about ‘political pawn’ and politics, but I hope this is far from this courtroom,” she said.
Like much of US diplomacy, the case also sparked internal debate, which heated up after the arms dealer’s offer to release him. Former Republican President Donald Trump, accused by opponents of playing Putin’s political game in the US, condemned efforts – with the usual exaggeration right – to free the player, whom he called spoiled.
“She came loaded with drugs into hostile territory, where they are very vigilant about drugs, they don’t like drugs,” he said in a podcast interview. “She’s been caught and now we should get her out of the country? And she makes, you know, a lot of money, I think. We should bring her in by exchanging her for a cold-blooded killer and one of the biggest arms dealers in the world, [que] killed many Americans? And she’ll get a free ticket, and we’ll pick her up.”
