Those sources told CNN that the plan to trade Bout for Whelan and Griner received support from President Joe Biden after being under discussion since the beginning of the year. Biden’s support for the swap overrules opposition from the Justice Department, which is generally against the prisoner trade.
“We communicated a substantial offer that we believed could be successful based on a history of conversations with the Russians,” a senior administration official told CNN on Wednesday. “We communicated it a few weeks ago, in June.”
The official declined to comment on the details of the “substantial offer.” They said it was in Russia’s court “to be sensitive to this, but at the same time this does not leave us passive as we continue to communicate the offer at very high levels”.
“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 this with someone who has taken an American human being and has treated them like a bargaining chip,” the official said. “So in a way, it’s not surprising, even disheartening, when these same actors don’t necessarily respond directly to our offers, not engage constructively in negotiations.” “Substantial proposal” in Moscow “weeks ago” for Whelan and Griner, who are classified as wrongfully detained. The top US diplomat said he intended to discuss the matter in a planned call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov this week.
The families of Whelan, detained by Russia for alleged espionage since 2018, and WNBA star Griner, jailed in Moscow for drug possession since February, have urged the White House to secure their release, until and all through an exchange of prisoners if necessary. , who pleaded guilty in early July but said he unwittingly brought cannabis into Russia, testified in a Russian courtroom on Wednesday as part of his ongoing trial on drug charges, for which he faces 10 years in prison. His trial is understood to have to conclude before a settlement is finalized, according to US officials familiar with the Russian court process and the inner workings of US-Russia negotiations.
During months of internal discussions between US agencies, the Justice Department objected to the Bout trade, people briefed on the matter said. However, Justice officials eventually agreed that a Bout trade has the support of senior State Department and White House officials, including Biden himself, sources say.
The US government has long resisted prisoner swaps, citing concerns that they only incentivize countries to detain Americans so they can be used as bargaining chips. Advocates have disputed those concerns, arguing that it is more important that Americans be able to return home.
Among senior Biden administration officials, the idea of prisoner exchanges gained new momentum earlier this year after the successful release of Trevor Reed, a former Marine who was held captive in Russia for more than two years . Reed was replaced by Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot who was then serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for conspiracy to smuggle cocaine.
Biden officials were concerned that the decision to replace Reed with Yaroshenko would be criticized by Republicans. Instead, he won bipartisan praise, including from a handful of Republicans who are usually sharp critics of the administration. That reception, sources say, led the administration to reexamine all options, including possible trades, to get Whelan and Griner out of Russia. Mr. Yaroshenko, who is the opposite of that, we are so committed to bringing our people home that we will make these painful decisions under certain circumstances,” the senior administration official told CNN.
Securing his release would also give the White House a much-needed political victory ahead of November’s midterm elections, a point some officials quietly acknowledged when they spoke privately to CNN. There is also a sense of urgency to bring the two detainees home as the White House faces growing public scrutiny from the families of Americans illegally detained abroad.
Biden recently spoke by phone with Griner’s wife, Cherelle, and Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth.
This story is breaking and will be updated.