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Brittney Griner: was caught in Moscow in February with cartridges for e-cigarettes containing cannabis oil
Photo: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP
Former US diplomat Bill Richardson has been "optimistic" that a prisoner swap could be negotiated with Russia to release basketball player Brittney Griner.
He assumes that the athlete will be released, the former US ambassador to the United Nations told ABC on Sunday.
Richardson was involved in the release of several US citizens who had been held in other countries.
According to media reports in July, he should now also travel to Russia to negotiate Griner's release.
A Russian court on Thursday sentenced the athlete to nine years in prison for drug trafficking and a fine of one million rubles (around 16,000 euros).
On Friday, the Russian government agreed to negotiate a prisoner exchange.
"There will be an exchange of prisoners," Richardson said with conviction in the television interview.
Although he emphasized that he was only indirectly involved in possible negotiations, he seemed to be very well informed: Richardson, in his own words, expects a prisoner exchange "two for two" in order to also free the former US soldier Paul Whelan imprisoned in Russia.
According to US media reports, Griner and Whelan could be swapped out for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence in the US.
It is not yet clear who the second Russian could be.
Griner, who plays for the Phoenix Mercury team in the US professional league WNBA and for the Russian team UMMC Yekaterinburg during the season break, was arrested at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport in February - shortly before the start of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.
Cartridges for e-cigarettes with cannabis oil were found in their luggage.
Griner had pleaded guilty at the beginning of the trial.
Her lawyer argued that the athlete's oil was prescribed by her doctor as a pain reliever.
In the USA, too, she only took it “occasionally”.
In Russia, however, cannabis is also banned for medicinal purposes.
bbr/AFP