The information has been circulating for a few weeks, but it was confirmed this Saturday, August 13 by a Russian diplomat. The United States and Russia are indeed in the process of negotiating for a prisoner exchange, as in the days of the Cold War. An exchange that would involve American basketball player Brittney Griner and a former American soldier, Paul Whelan, against Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer, sentenced in 2012 to 25 years in prison by American justice.
If Washington made no secret of it, Moscow has so far refused to talk about it publicly, as the Russian Foreign Minister explained a few weeks ago. Sergei Lavrov had even publicly criticized his American counterpart, after Antony Blinken spoke of a substantial offer to obtain the release basketball player Brittney Griner.
But this Saturday, a Russian diplomat confirmed that discussions were underway. If he has not revealed the name or names of the people who could be used as currencies of exchange, the name of Viktor Bout continues to circulate and is among those mentioned behind the scenes, according to this diplomat.
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It must be said that the Kremlin has always called for the return of the man who is often nicknamed ” the merchant of death “. A famous character whose role was embodied in the cinema in 2005 by the American actor Nicolas Cage in the film Lord of War long before he was arrested in 2008 in Thailand.
The negotiations between the two countries would have accelerated since the conviction of the basketball player on August 4 9 years imprisonment for trafficking of cannabis. Necessarily complicated negotiations as the conflict in Ukraine continues.