WASHINGTON: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that further prisoner swaps between the United States and Russia were possible, and that contacts between the two countries’ intelligence services would continue.
Putin was speaking at a news conference in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, a day after the United States freed Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in exchange for US basketball player Brittney Griner in the most high-profile prisoner exchange between the two countries in years.
Putin was asked if other exchanges were possible. “Yes, anything is possible,” he replied. “Contacts continue. In fact, they have never stopped ... A compromise was found, we do not reject continuing this work in the future.”
Russia continues to hold Paul Whelan, a US Marine Corps veteran who was convicted of espionage in 2020 in a trial that US diplomats said had been unfair and opaque.
Meanwhile, Griner arrived in the United States Friday morning after she was released from a Russian prison in exchange for an arms dealer known as the “Merchant of Death.”
Griner, 32, who was arrested in Russia in February on drug charges, was seen by an AFP reporter walking across a runway after her plane landed in San Antonio, Texas.
She was expected to be transferred to a nearby military facility for medical checks, US media reported.
Griner was exchanged in Abu Dhabi on Thursday for Viktor Bout, a 55-year-old Russian national who was serving a 25-year sentence in a US prison.
In footage released by Russian state media, Griner, shorn of her distinctive dreadlocks, and a relaxed and animated Bout could be seen crossing paths on the airport tarmac and heading towards the planes that would take them home.
President Joe Biden said on Thursday that he had spoken to her and that she was in “good spirits” after suffering “needless trauma.”
Biden pledged to obtain Whelan’s freedom, saying “we will never give up.”
“Sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case different than Brittney’s,” he said.
As for Griner’s release, Biden said: “This is a day we’ve worked toward for a long time. It took painstaking and intense negotiations.”
Biden announced Griner’s release on Thursday flanked by her wife, Cherelle Griner, Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“I’m just standing here, overwhelmed with emotions,” Cherelle Griner said.
“Today my family is whole, but as you all are aware there’s so many other families who are not whole.”
The Griner family thanked President Biden and his administration in a statement, and said they “pray for Paul and for the swift and safe return of all wrongfully-detained Americans.”
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