INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The United States has made a "substantial proposal" to Russia to free Americans including basketball star Brittney Griner, Secretary of
State Antony Blinken said Wednesday, as he announced he will speak to his Moscow counterpart for the first time since the Ukraine
war.Blinken said he expected a telephone call "in the coming days" with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the offer to free former Marine
wrongfully detained and must be allowed to come home," Blinken told reporters."We put a substantial proposal on the table weeks ago to
Our governments have communicated repeatedly and directly on that proposal and I'll use the conversation to follow up personally," he
said.Citing the sensitivity, Blinken declined to go into detail or confirm reports that the United States was offering to trade them for
Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian arms smuggler.The United States and Russia already engaged in one prisoner swap in the heat of the Ukraine
war: In April Washington exchanged former United States Marine Trevor Reed for convicted drug smuggler Konstantin Yaroshenko.President Joe
Biden has faced growing pressure to free Griner, who faces up to 10 years in prison and whose wife earlier accused the administration of
doing too little.Whelan, a security official at an auto parts company, was arrested in Moscow in December 2018 and in 2020 sentenced to 16
years in prison for espionage, which he denies.Whelan's family in a statement voiced appreciation for the Biden administration's efforts
and hoped that Russia "accepts this or some other concession" for his freedom.No negotiation on UkraineThe telephone conversation will be
the first between Blinken and Lavrov since Feb
15 when the top United States diplomat warned Russia against invading Ukraine.President Vladimir Putin went ahead and attacked nine days
later, leading the United States and its allies to impose sweeping sanctions and to seek to isolate Russia on the world stage.The
conversation "will not be a negotiation about Ukraine," Blinken told reporters."Any negotiation regarding Ukraine is for its people and
illusion" that Russia was ready to engage "meaningfully and constructively" to end the war."In the meantime, we'll continue to do all that
agreement reached last week in Turkey to allow the release of Ukrainian grain after a blockade has sent global food prices soaring."Hundreds
of millions of people are waiting for these ships to set forth from Ukraine's ports," Blinken said.He also said he would warn of further
consequences if Russia annexes more Ukrainian territory
Moscow in 2014 seized Crimea and declared the peninsula to be part of Russia, a decision not recognized by most of the world.The White House
recently said that Russia was laying the groundwork for "sham referenda" in areas it seized, possibly as early as September.Blinken
pointedly declined to meet Lavrov when they both attended Group of 20 talks earlier this month in Bali, with the United States rallying its
allies in criticizing Russia in the closed-door sessions.Griner says no intention to break lawGriner, a two-time Olympic basketball gold
guilty to drug charges over possessing vape cartridges with cannabis oil.Speaking at her trial in Khimki, just outside Moscow, Griner said
substances into Russia," said Griner, wearing a Phoenix Mercury T-shirt and black basketball trousers."I did not intend to break Russian
law," she added, saying that she was in a rush packing and tired after a recovery from Covid."I wouldn't do anything that would hurt my
