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☆ Brittney Griner prisoner swap a rare diplomatic success between U.S. and Russia
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Chantal Da Silva | Chantal Da Silva Is A Breaking News Editor For Nbc News Digital Based In London. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

The exchange of WNBA star Brittney Griner and arms dealer Viktor Bout was a rare moment of successful diplomacy between Moscow and Washington as relations between the two countries deteriorate over the war in Ukraine. For many, the trade will evoke memories of Soviet-era spy swaps — a more positive reminder of that era than the nuclear standoff that President Joe Biden recently said left the world facing its most dangerous moment since the Cuban Missile Crisis. President Biden speaks with with Brittney Griner on the phone, accompanied by Cherelle Griner at the Oval Office on Thursday. One of the most well known Cold War swaps involved American pilot Francis Gary Powers, whose U-2 spy plane was shot down in 1960 over the Soviet Union. Powers was traded two years later for Soviet spy Rudolf Abel, in an exchange on a fog-shrouded bridge between West Berlin and East Germany.

And a catastrophe for Paul," David Whelan said. The Whelan family was similarly frustrated in April, when another former Marine held in Russia, Trevor Reed, was released in a prisoner exchange. David Whelan said that at the time, they were not warned that his brother was not included in the swap. "Paul Whelan has been let down and left behind at least three times by 2 Presidents," the group said in a statement. David Whelan added that his parents are in their 80s, and it will be another Christmas without their son since he was detained four years ago.

☆ WNBA star Brittney Griner released from Russian custody in a high-profile prisoner swap between the U.S. and Moscow
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms | Andrea Mitchell | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

WASHINGTON — WNBA star Brittney Griner is free Thursday after the Biden administration negotiated her release from a Russian penal colony in exchange for an arms dealer, according to a senior administration official. People familiar with the negotiations for his release say the Russians refused to release Whelan without getting a Russian spy in return. The entrance to the Russian penal colony IK-2 on Nov. 19, 2022, where Griner began serving her sentence. The Biden administration has faced tremendous pressure to help bring home the 6-foot-9 Houston native. Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP fileGriner’s release is the second publicly known U.S. prisoner swap with Russia since the war in Ukraine started.

☆ Biden administration brings WNBA star Brittany Griner home for the holidays after 10 months in Russian custody
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Emma Kinery | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The Biden administration is bringing WNBA star Brittney Griner, who has been detained in Russia for 10 months, home for the holidays after months of negotiation. "She is safe, she is on a plane, she is on her way home," U.S. President Joe Biden announced Thursday. Cherelle Griner was present and able to speak with Brittney when Biden made the call from the Oval Office. Notably absent from the swap was another American detained in Russia, Paul Whelan, who has been in Russian custody since 2018. "We've not forgotten about Paul Whelan," Biden said.

☆ Who is Viktor Bout, the arms dealer who could be swapped for Griner?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Felix Light | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

Russia wants the jailed arms dealer back in Moscow and is discussing a prisoner swap with the United States that could see him exchanged for Americans imprisoned in Russia including basketball star Brittney Griner. Reed was ultimately freed in return for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot jailed in the United States on drug trafficking charges. For some experts, the Russian state's continued interest in Bout, plus his skills and connections in the international arms trade, hint strongly at Russian intelligence ties. In interviews, Bout has said he attended Moscow's Military Institute of Foreign Languages, which serves as a training ground for military intelligence officers. “His case has become totemic for the Russian intelligence services, who are keen to show that they don’t abandon their own people,” Galeotti added.

That the WNBA star, who lost her appeal Tuesday, is a gay Black woman could add unknown variables to a penal system that is known to be remote and harrowing. “Conditions in prisons and detention centers varied but were often harsh and life threatening,” a 2021 State Department report on Russian human rights abuses said. “Russian prisons are grim, even relative to prisons in other countries. Prisoners were used for farming, mining or logging in sparsely populated areas of the country or worked in sweatshop conditions. It can often take weeks for prisoners to arrive at the prisons on prison trucks and specially designed train carriages called Stolypins.

A Russian appeals court is due on Tuesday to hear the case of WNBA star Brittney Griner, sentenced to nine years in prison in what the United States has called a wrongful detention. Griner, 32, “is quite pessimistic about the outcome” of the appeal, one of her attorneys, Maria Blagovolina, said Monday on MSNBC. Medical cannabis is illegal in Russia, but it is legal in most of the U.S.United States officials say Griner is being wrongfully detained. “It is our goal to see them home as soon as we can.”Griner's wife, Cherelle Griner, has said that Brittney Griner is being held hostage. When she was detained, Griner had been in Russia to play for a Russian Premier League women’s team, UMMC Ekaterinburg, which she had since 2014.

CNN —Brittney Griner is appealing her verdict in Russian court Tuesday, nearly three months after the US basketball star was convicted of smuggling drugs into the country and sentenced to nine years in prison. Griner’s appeal will be considered in the Moscow Regional Court in a hearing at which her attorneys are expected to argue the verdict was unfair and unjustified under Russian law, they told CNN. The court hearing the appeal can choose to leave Griner’s verdict in place, overrule it and send it back to the lower court, or reduce Griner’s prison term, they said. “Brittney is very strong person and has a champion’s character,” Blagovolina and Boykov told CNN in a written statement ahead of Griner’s appeal. “However, she of course has her highs and lows as she is severely stressed being separated from her loved ones for over eight months.”“She is very nervous waiting for the appeal hearing,” they added.

☆ Joe Biden și Vladimir Putin, față în față după o perioadă 11 ani. Care sunt mizele întâlnirii istorice de la Geneva
▼ + stars: | 2021-06-16 | by ( Publika.Md - Aici Sunt Știrile | ) www.publika.md time to read: +5 min

Toți ochii sunt ațintiți astăzi spre Elveția, acolo unde Joe Biden și Vladimir Putin sunt așteptați să se întâlnească la Villa La Grange de pe malul lacului Geneva. Întâlnirea oficială între cei doi președinți are loc într-un moment în care relațiile dintre Rusia și SUA au ajuns la un nou punct critic, demn de epoca Războiului Rece. „Mă întâlnesc cu domnul Putin pentru a-i spune ce-mi doresc ca el să știe”, a declarat președintele Biden săptămâna trecută, atunci când a coborât pe pământ european. De asemenea, Vladimir Putin a vorbit și despre un posibil schimb de prizonieri între Rusia şi SUA, arătându-se deschis faţă de o astfel de posibilitate. Jocul de șah al WashingtonuluiÎn ciuda criticilor sale la adresa lui Vladimir Putin, președintele Joe Biden este cel care a cerut organizarea întâlnirii cu liderul de la Kremlin.

Persons: Joe Biden, Vladimir Putin, american Joe Biden, Biden, Putin, Paul Whelan, Trevor Reed, Dmitri Peskov, Reuters, Mark Galeotti, Putin Vladimir Putin, Bill Clinton, Boris Elțîn Organizations: american, Albă, Foreign Policy, Casei Albe, NBC, BBC, The Moscow, Moscow Locations: Elveția, Grange, Geneva, Rusia, SUA, Rece, rus, China, Belarus, Ucraina, Kremlin, Moscova, Statele Unite, detenţie, american, RUSIA, nedreptățită, Rusiei

Întrevederea cu președintele rus este ultimul eveniment de pe agenda turneului european realizat de președinte american Joe Biden în ultima săptămână și în urma căruia au fost adoptate niște poziții mult mai clare din partea Occidentului față de abuzurile regimurilor autoritare din Rusia și China. „Mă întâlnesc cu domnul Putin pentru a-i spune ce-mi doresc ca el să știe”, a declarat președintele Biden săptămâna trecută, atunci când a coborât pe pământ european. La rândul său, președintele rus Vladimir Putin, într-un interviu acordat în urmă cu două zile canalului de televiziune NBC, a spus că este „grotesc” să se afirme că Moscova duce un război cibernetic împotriva SUA. De asemenea, Vladimir Putin a vorbit și despre un posibil schimb de prizonieri între Rusia şi SUA, arătându-se deschis faţă de o astfel de posibilitate. Totuși, acesta a precizat că reuniunea în sine este „foarte importantă”, scrie digi24.ro cu referire la Reuters.

Persons: american Joe Biden, Putin, Biden, Vladimir Putin, Paul Whelan, Trevor Reed, Dmitri Peskov Organizations: american, Albă, Foreign Policy, Casei Albe, NBC, Reuters Locations: rus, Rusia, China, Belarus, Ucraina, Kremlin, Moscova, Statele Unite, SUA, detenţie, american

☆ Joe Biden, după întâlnirea cu Vladimir Putin: „Cred că ultimul lucru pe care și l-ar dori acum ar fi un Război Rece”
▼ + stars: | 2021-06-16 | by ( ) www.jurnal.md time to read: +3 min

Joe Biden a subliniat că în timpul discuțiilor cu Vladimir Putin a ridicat problema îngrijorărilor pe care administrația sa le are cu privire la respectarea drepturilor omului, inclusiv în legătură cu Alexei Navalnîi. Și subiectul Ucraina a fost atins, Biden exprimând „susținerea fermă” a administrației sale pentru „suveranitatea și integritatea teritorială a Ucrainei”. Cei doi lideri au mai discutat despre Iran și despre retragerea trupelor americane din Afganistan. Biden a spus că tonul discuțiilor a fost „pozitiv” și a adăugat:„Am făcut ceea ce îmi propusesem să fac”. Președintele Biden a fost întrebat și dacă are încredere în Vladimir Putin.

Persons: Joe Biden, Vladimir Putin, Președintele Joe Biden, Alexei Navalnîi, Biden, Putin, Paul Whelan, Trevor Reed, ., Președintele Biden, Vladimir Putin . Organizations: Albă, Casei Locations: Kremlin, Ucraina, Ucrainei, Iran, Afganistan, Rusiei, America, Rusia

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