The Biden administration has offered to exchange a Russian arms trafficker currently serving prison time in the U.S. for two Americans detained in Russia, Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan.
President Joe Biden backed the prisoner swap after months of discussion within his administration, potentially setting up a win before the midterms, CNN reported Wednesday, citing several unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
The Department of Justice typically doesn’t support prisoner swaps, but DOJ officials eventually joined State Department and top White House officials in their plan to swap Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout for the two American prisoners.
Bout, who is known as the “Merchant of Death” was sentenced in 2012 to 25 years in prison on four counts of conspiring to kill Americans, acquiring and exporting anti-aircraft missiles, and providing material support to a terrorist organization.
Bout was arrested in 2008 in a Thailand sting operation and was accused of supplying weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The U.S. claimed the weapons were intended to kill Americans.
Bout has maintained his innocence, saying he “never intended to kill anyone” and “never intended to sell arms to anyone.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinked said Wednesday the U.S. had offered Russia a “substantial proposal” and planned to speak with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov about it later this week.
A senior official told the outlet that the U.S. offered Russia a “substantial offer” to Russia in June, but declined to say what the “offer” was.
“It takes two to tango. We start all negotiations to bring home Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained with a bad actor on the other side. We start all of these with somebody who has taken a human being American and treated them as a bargaining chip,” the official said, according to CNN. “So in some ways, it’s not surprising, even if it’s disheartening, when those same actors don’t necessarily respond directly to our offers, don’t engage constructively in negotiations.”
Basketball star Griner was detained in February after cannabis vape cartridges were discovered in her luggage in a Moscow airport. She is currently on trial and pled guilty to having the cartridges in her luggage, leaving her open to a ten year prison sentence in Russia.
Griner, who the U.S. deems is wrongfully detained, asked Biden in a handwritten letter to not forget her and said she’s “terrified” she will be in Russia forever.
Whelan has been detained in Russia since 2018 on alleged espionage charges and was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020.
The reported swap proposal comes after American Trevor Reed, who Russian officials claim endangered “the life and health” of Russian police officers, was successfully traded in April for Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was serving a 20-year sentence in the U.S. for cocaine smuggling.