“There is a specific channel that has been agreed upon [Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Joe Biden]and no matter what anyone says publicly, this channel will remain in place,” Lavrov was quoted as saying on Friday at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. Shortly after, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said at the same summit that the US would “continue” talks with Russia. “We have put forward, as you know, a substantial proposal that Russia will have to work with us on. And what Foreign Minister Lavrov said this morning and said publicly is that they are willing to engage through channels that we have set up to do exactly that that. And we will pursue it,” Blinken told reporters at a news conference. Comments from each side suggest that a negotiation process, which has already proven complicated, could speed up in the coming days. Russian government officials last month asked to include a former colonel in the country’s domestic intelligence agency, who was convicted of murder in Germany last year, in the proposed U.S. exchange of notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout for Griner and Paul Whelan, multiple sources said. sources. according to conversations he told CNN. Whelan, a US citizen, has been held by Russia since 2018 and was convicted by a Russian court in 2020 of espionage charges he has vehemently denied. Griner’s conviction has raised similar concerns that she is being used as a political pawn in Russia’s war against Ukraine. The US State Department is labeling the couple as unlawfully detained. Griner, a star in the National Women’s Basketball Association, pleaded guilty to carrying cannabis oil in her luggage while traveling through a Moscow airport on February 17. He testified in court that he was aware of Russia’s strict drug laws and had no intention of bringing cannabis into the country, saying he was in a hurry and “to relieve stress”. Before the verdict Thursday, Griner apologized to the court and asked for leniency in an emotional speech. “I never intended to harm anyone, I never intended to endanger the Russian population, I never intended to break any laws here,” he said. “I made an honest mistake and I hope with your decision that my life won’t end here. I know everyone keeps talking about political pawns and politics, but I hope that’s far from this room,” he continued. Griner’s lawyers had hoped her guilty plea and expressions of remorse would lead to a lighter sentence. Her conviction, Blinken told reporters, “puts the spotlight on her [Washington’s] very significant concern about Russia’s legal system and the Russian government’s use of illegal detention to advance its own agenda by using individuals as political pawns.” “The same goes for Paul Whelan,” added Blinken. Earlier on Friday, a US State Department official told reporters there had been no “serious response” from Russia regarding a proposed exchange. The same official said that Blinken and Lavrov had not met during the Cambodia summit and that Blinken had no plans to do so. Before the start of Thursday’s WNBA game between Griner’s Phoenix Mercury and the Connecticut Sun, members of the two teams linked arms around center court and a 42-second moment of silence was observed for Brittney Griner. Near the end of those 42 seconds, crowd members began chanting, “Bring her home! Bring her home!” This story has been updated with additional developments. CNN’s Martin Goillandeau and Daniel Allman contributed to this report.
