US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced that his country had made an offer to Russia to release two American prisoners, revealing that he would speak by phone to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in the coming days. On the other hand, the Russian Foreign Ministry denied knowledge of this anticipated call.
Blinken said at a press conference at the State Department that the United States offered Moscow a deal weeks ago, according to which basketball star Britney Greiner and former US Marine Paul Whelan would be returned, and that he hoped to advance the process during his conversation with Sergey Lavrov.
Blinken declined to reveal what the United States would offer in return.
But he stressed that his planned call with Lavrov, the first such conversation between the two ministers since before Russia's war on Ukraine began on February 24, would not be negotiations on Ukraine.
He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin had failed to achieve his goal of occupying Ukraine, noting that it would remain an independent and sovereign country.
And CNN reported that the administration of President Joe Biden had offered Russia the release of Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is serving a prison sentence in the United States, as part of a deal to secure the release of American citizens.
CNN quoted US sources as saying that the prisoner exchange plan had the support of President Joe Biden, despite the opposition of the Ministry of Justice to it.
Russian exile
On the other hand, the Russian TASS news agency quoted a ministry spokesman as saying that Washington had not formally communicated with Russia about a call between Blinken and Lavrov.
The spokesman added that the established diplomatic practices govern our work, not the transmitted speech.
For his part, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to comment on the news about the US proposal to exchange Russian prisoner Victor Bout for Americans Paul Whelan and Britney Greiner.
The United States and Russia engaged in a prisoner exchange in April during the Ukraine war, in which Russia released former Marine Trevor Reed in exchange for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was convicted of drug smuggling in the United States.
The American offer comes amid increasing pressure on President Biden from the families of American detainees and hostages, the latest of whom is Greiner, a two-time Olympic medalist who has been detained in Russia since February on drug charges.