Biden says he hopes Putin will negotiate release of WNBA star Griner after midterms – National

President Joe Biden on Wednesday hopes Russian President Vladimir Putin will be more aggressive in negotiating the release of WNBA star Britney Griner now that the US midterm elections are over.

“Now that the election is over, I hope Putin will talk to us and talk more seriously about prisoner swaps,” Biden said at a news conference.

He said hours after Griner’s lawyers revealed that she had been sent to a penal colony to serve out a sentence for drug possession.

US officials have been trying for months to negotiate the release of Griner and another American imprisoned in Russia, Paul Whelan.

A diplomatic resolution has taken on new urgency after a Russian court dismissed an appeal to her nine-year sentence last month. was convicted on August 4 after police said they found an e-cigarette canister containing cannabis oil in his luggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport.

Her arrest came at a time of heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington, days before Russia sent troops to Ukraine.

White House Press Secretary Carine Jean-Pierre said: “One minute is too long for Britney Griner to endure unjust detention in Russia.” “As I said before, the U.S. government has made important proposals to the Russian people to resolve the current unacceptable and illegal detention of U.S. citizens.”

Griner’s lawyers said she left a detention center outside Moscow on November 4 and left for a penal colony. Russian prisons are generally known. The move was expected as she lost her appeal.

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Such transfers can take days or weeks, during which lawyers and loved ones typically have no contact with the inmate. Even after her arrival, access to Greiner may be difficult as many penal colonies are located in remote areas of Russia.

Her attorney said Wednesday that she did not know exactly where she was or where she ended up, but expected to be notified when she reached her final destination.

In a statement highlighting the work being done to secure Griner’s release, US Secretary of State Anthony Brinken said Russian officials would allow the embassy regular access to Griner as needed. Last week, officials from the US Embassy in Moscow visited Griner.

A senior State Department official spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity because the matter is sensitive.Current location or final destination.

In many penal colonies, prisoners work for minimal wages, and dissidents and other countries denounce their conditions. Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny went on hunger strike to protest his treatment.The authorities refused to give him proper medicine.

He also protested the hourly checks that security guards do at night, saying it amounted to sleep deprivation torture.

Griner, 32, who was detained when she returned to play for the Russian team during the WNBA offseason, admitted she had a canister in her luggage. He testified that he had no intention of committing the crime. Her legal team has filed a written statement that she was prescribed cannabis to treat her pain.

The Associated Press and other news outlets reported that Washington offered to trade Griner and Wylan, an American serving a 16-year prison sentence in Russia for espionage, for Victor Bout. Bout is a Russian arms dealer who is serving a 25-year sentence in the United States and was once nicknamed “The Merchant of Death.”

© 2022 The Canadian Press