Russia warns U.S. against pressure over prisoner swap before Griner trial

RIGA, Latvia — Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday warned Washington not to exert pressure on Moscow over prisoner exchanges, hours before American WNBA star Brittney Griner arrived at a suburban court to face a third hearing in her trial on drug charges that could see her serve 10 years in prison.

Amid intense pressure on the Biden administration to secure Griner’s release, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that this was “futile” and claimed that U.S. officials were trying to use the pressure as leverage.

“We urge the U.S. authorities not to exploit this sensitive matter affecting the fates of certain individuals, and we advise them to abandon futile attempts to pressure us,” Zakharova said.

She called on Washington to “work through established channels. It simply won’t work any other way.”

It is the second warning in eight days from a senior Russian official that the pressure around Griner’s cause would do her cause no good. Last week, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov hinted that there were channels for negotiation on the matter, but only after her trial is complete. He also warned against public “hype” over the case.

Zakharova was answering a question from state-owned RIA Novosti on whether talks with Washington on a prisoner exchange were underway, amid rising speculation about a possible swap involving Griner and Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. He is serving 25 years in the United States for conspiring to sell arms to a foreign terrorist group and conspiring to kill U.S. citizens.

U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission Elizabeth Rood was present for Thursday’s hearing.

When she pleaded guilty last week to carrying cannabis oil in vape cartridges, Griner maintained that she did not intend to break Russian law and had been in a rush when she packed, with the cartridges ending up in her luggage by accident. She is not expected to testify at Thursday’s hearing; her legal team planned instead to call witnesses in her defense.

It is unclear when Griner will be sentenced. Her attorney, Maria Blagovolina, said last week that the legal team would ask the judge for a lenient sentence based on Griner’s guilty plea.

According to the prosecutors’ case, Russian customs officials found two vape cartridges containing .702 grams of cannabis oil in her baggage at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo International Airport in February, a week before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Griner was in the country to play for Russian team UMMC Ekaterinburg during the WNBA offseason.

The State Department says Griner has been wrongfully detained by Russia, along with another American, former Marine Paul Whelan, a security consultant convicted of spying who has been in detention since December 2018.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said his top priority is to secure the release of Griner, Whelan and other Americans wrongly imprisoned overseas.

Asked if the deteriorating relations between Washington and Moscow impacted the chances of a prisoner exchange, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that it never discussed prisoner swaps. “And relations have indeed worsened. That’s all I can say.”

The Kremlin denies that Griner’s trial is political or that she is a hostage, as her supporters in the United States believe.

In April, Moscow swapped Marine veteran Trevor Reed for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot serving a 20-year prison sentence in Connecticut for drug trafficking. Reed had been in poor health for months. He received a nine-year sentence in Russia after being convicted of assault that endangered the lives of police officers. Reed consistently said he was innocent.

The White House said last week that Griner was being held under “intolerable circumstances.” President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris called Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, and told her they were doing all they could to secure Griner’s freedom.

Griner recently wrote to Biden begging him not to forget her and other detainees, saying, “I’m terrified I might be here forever.”

State Department efforts to free her have been complicated by the diplomatic chill between Washington and Moscow since President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian officials accuse the United States of using Ukraine as an “anti-Russia” project.

As relations worsened and diplomatic efforts to avert the war failed, the State Department issued an alert to Americans in January not to travel to Russia and warned those in the country to leave if they could.

Biden’s phone call to Cherelle Griner and his letter to Brittney Griner angered Whelan’s family, who already were upset that he was left behind in the April prisoner exchange and concerned that his case was not receiving the same attention from officials as Griner’s. After Whelan’s family expressed their anger in media interviews, Biden called Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth, last week.

“Everyone wants to see this come to an end across the board,” Elizabeth Whelan said on Wednesday, adding that the Russian judicial system had dragged out her brother’s case and expressing concern that Griner’s case might follow the same pattern. “You never know quite what to expect,” she said.

Her brother had traveled to Moscow for a friend’s wedding and was arrested in his hotel room. He was convicted of spying in a closed trial in 2020, receiving a 16-year sentence. He said throughout the trial that he had been framed.