Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that the country is actively engaged with Russia over a possible prisoner swap to bring back Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan. While Griner has been in captivity since February, Whelan has been detained since December 2018. The Phoenix Mercury star was arrested at an airport for the possession of cannabis oil in her belongings.

Ever since the arrest of Griner, the U.S. government has been trying to free her. However, there has been no success so far. Earlier this year, she was sentenced to nine years in prison. Recently, she was moved to a Russian penal colony in Mordovia.

To make things possibly worse for Griner, recently, a spokesperson of the Kremlin reportedly stated that the country will not engage with the U.S. before the end of the year for a prisoner swap. However, as per reports, Blinken stated on Sunday that the two countries have been in continuous talks about a prisoner swap for months.

Brittney Griner prisoner swap negotiation

Antony Blinken was asked whether the Russians are serious about the negotiations to free Griner and Whelan. He said,?“We have to see if the engagements that we’ve had, the discussions that we have, produced an actual result. That’s the most important thing, but we are not resting on the laurels of having put forward a proposal some months ago. We’ve been actively engaged over these many months to try to move things forward.”

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Interestingly, this comes after Russia’s warning recently. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated that the prisoner swap discussions will not be disclosed to the public. He also urged everyone involved to be “silent” on the issue.

?We do not talk about this and we urge everyone to be silent on this subject. Such matters can only be discussed in silence,? Peskov reportedly said.

Report of a one-for-one swap

Antony Blinken was also asked about another recent report that has been doing the rounds. As per the reports, Russia wants a one-for-one swap. So there were suggestions that the country has to decide who among the two to bring back first. But Blinken denied providing any more details about the prisoner swap negotiations.

If the reports suggesting Russia’s stand on a one-for-one swap is true, that could potentially put the U.S. State Department in a huge dilemma regarding who to bring back first. However, Russia’s stance is still unclear.

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Also, there are worries about the safety and well-being of Brittney Griner in the penal colony. Worrying reports about the brutal conditions of the Russian penal colonies have described grueling details of the facilities. Therefore, Griner’s family and supporters would be ardently hoping for the swap deal to happen soon.