Russia Says 'Ready' to Discuss Prisoner Exchange With U.S.

Russia is "ready" to discuss a prisoner swap with Washington at the presidential level, its foreign minister said on Friday, a day after the drug conviction of U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner.

"We are ready to discuss this subject, but only within the framework of the [communication] channel established by presidents Putin and Biden," Sergei Lavrov told a press conference on a visit to Cambodia.

"There is a special channel established by the presidents and despite certain public declarations, it is still functional," he said.

"If the Americans again decide to engage in public diplomacy and make thundering declarations... that's their business and their problem," he said, adding that Washington "can't" work "in a professional and calm manner."

Lavrov spoke a day after a Russian court sentenced Griner to nine years in a penal colony on a drug smuggling charge.

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​​Blinken Holds ‘Frank’ Discussion With Russian FM on Prisoners, Ukraine

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke Friday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in their first contact since the Ukraine war, saying he pressed him to accept a proposal on freeing two Americans held in Russia.

"We had a frank and direct conversation. I pressed the Kremlin to accept the substantial proposal that we put forward," Blinken told reporters.

Blinken said on Wednesday he planned to contact Lavrov in a bid to free two Americans, basketball star Brittney Griner and former Marine Paul Whelan, and push forward a proposal issued several weeks earlier. 

The top US diplomat declined to characterize Lavrov's reaction, saying, "I can't give you an assessment of whether I think things are any more or less likely."

"But it was important that he heard directly," Blinken said.

The proposal reportedly includes swapping the two Americans, whose plight has drawn growing attention, for convicted Russian arms smuggler Viktor Bout. 

Blinken said he also pressed Lavrov on Russia honoring a Turkish-brokered proposal to ship grain out of Ukraine and on purported plans by Moscow to annex additional parts of Ukraine seized by Russian troops. 

Blinken said he told Lavrov that "the world will never recognize annexation" and that Russia would be hit by additional ramifications.

"It was very important that the Russians hear directly from us that that will not be accepted — and not only will it not be accepted, it will result in additional significant costs being imposed upon Russia," Blinken said.

Blinken said Russia was preparing "sham referendums" to try to "falsely demonstrate that the people in these parts of Ukraine somehow seek to become part of Russia."

The votes would be part of Russian President Vladimir Putin's objective of "gobbling up as much Ukrainian territory as he can," he added.

The telephone conversation was the first between Blinken and Lavrov since February 15, when the top US diplomat warned Russia against invading Ukraine.

Putin went ahead and attacked nine days later, leading the United States and its allies to impose sweeping sanctions and to seek to isolate Russia on the world stage.

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Resuming Talks With Russia, U.S. Offers 'Substantial' Deal on Prisoners

The United States has made a "substantial proposal" to Russia to free Americans including basketball star Brittney Griner, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday, as he announced he will speak to his Moscow counterpart for the first time since the Ukraine war.

Blinken said he expected a telephone call "in the coming days" with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the offer to free former Marine Paul Whelan as well as Griner — who told a court earlier Wednesday that she had brought in banned drugs unintentionally.

The pair "have been wrongfully detained and must be allowed to come home," Blinken told reporters.

"We put a substantial proposal on the table weeks ago to facilitate their release. Our governments have communicated repeatedly and directly on that proposal and I'll use the conversation to follow up personally," he said.

Citing the sensitivity, Blinken declined to go into detail or confirm reports that the United States was offering to trade them for Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian arms smuggler.

The United States and Russia already engaged in one prisoner swap in the heat of the Ukraine war: In April Washington exchanged former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed for convicted drug smuggler Konstantin Yaroshenko.

President Joe Biden has faced growing pressure to free Griner, who faces up to 10 years in prison and whose wife earlier accused the administration of doing too little.

Whelan, a security official at an auto parts company, was arrested in Moscow in December 2018 and in 2020 sentenced to 16 years in prison for espionage, which he denies.

Whelan's family in a statement voiced appreciation for the Biden administration's efforts and hoped that Russia "accepts this or some other concession" for his freedom.

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Moscow May Swap Ukraine Prisoners for Putin Ally: Negotiator

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No negotiation on Ukraine

The telephone conversation will be the first between Blinken and Lavrov since Feb. 15 when the top U.S. diplomat warned Russia against invading Ukraine.

President Vladimir Putin went ahead and attacked nine days later, leading the United States and its allies to impose sweeping sanctions and to seek to isolate Russia on the world stage.

The conversation "will not be a negotiation about Ukraine," Blinken told reporters.

"Any negotiation regarding Ukraine is for its people and people to determine," he said.

Blinken said the United States — which has been pouring billions in military aid into Ukraine — was "under no illusion" that Russia was ready to engage "meaningfully and constructively" to end the war.

"In the meantime, we'll continue to do all that we can to strengthen Ukraine's position on the battlefield," he said. 

Blinken said he would urge Russia to fulfill a breakthrough agreement reached last week in Turkey to allow the release of Ukrainian grain after a blockade has sent global food prices soaring.

"Hundreds of millions of people are waiting for these ships to set forth from Ukraine's ports," Blinken said.

He also said he would warn of further consequences if Russia annexes more Ukrainian territory. Moscow in 2014 seized Crimea and declared the peninsula to be part of Russia, a decision not recognized by most of the world.

The White House recently said that Russia was laying the groundwork for "sham referenda" in areas it seized, possibly as early as September.

Blinken pointedly declined to meet Lavrov when they both attended Group of 20 talks earlier this month in Bali, with the United States rallying its allies in criticizing Russia in the closed-door sessions.

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U.S. Basketball Star Griner Says Didn't Intend to Smuggle Drugs Into Russia

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Griner says no intention to break law

Griner, a two-time Olympic basketball gold medalist and Women's NBA champion who had played in Russia, was detained just days before Moscow launched its offensive.

She has pleaded guilty to drug charges over possessing vape cartridges with cannabis oil.

Speaking at her trial in Khimki, just outside Moscow, Griner said she still did not know how the cartridges ended up in her bag and had no intention to use them. 

"I did not think of or plan to bring banned substances into Russia," said Griner, wearing a Phoenix Mercury T-shirt and black basketball trousers.

"I did not intend to break Russian law," she added, saying that she was in a rush packing and tired after a recovery from Covid.

"I wouldn't do anything that would hurt my team."

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/resuming-talks-with-russia-u-s-offers-substantial-deal-on-prisoners/?feed_id=3078&_unique_id=62e1d1e1b921b

Prison Torture Victim Dies From Pneumonia – Reports

A convict whose violent beating by prison guards was caught on video and led to a mass outcry over prison torture in Russia has died from double pneumonia, his mother told independent media Monday. 

Video of Yevgeny Makarov's torture northeast of Moscow was leaked in 2018, prompting a series of investigations across Russian correctional facilities and a government promise to crack down on prison torture.  

Makarov was 29 at the time of his death from double pneumonia in a hospital bed, his mother Tatiana Shishova told the Mozhem Obyasnit Telegram news channel.

At least three hospitals were unable to provide adequate medical care for blood clots that had formed in his vessels from violent beatings in prison. 

Eleven former guards were convicted on charges of abuse of power and jailed for up to four years, while senior prison officials escaped prosecution. 

A series of prison torture leaks has followed Makarov's explosive video in the years since.

Torture and sexual violence inflicted on inmates have long been systemic in Russia's vast penitentiary system, prison monitors say, but the videos have cast new light on such abuses.

Source https://www.globalcourant.com/prison-torture-victim-dies-from-pneumonia-reports/?feed_id=2182&_unique_id=62df77605f827