Russia’s Lavrov Says Moscow Will Propose Time for Call With Blinken on Prisoners

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a session of the Foreign Ministers Council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on July 29, 2022. Russian Foreign Ministry/Handout via Reuters

TASHKENT—Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday that Moscow would soon propose a time for a call with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in which Blinken has said he wants to discuss an exchange of prisoners held in Russian and U.S. jails.

Blinken said on Wednesday that Washington had made a “substantial offer” to obtain the release of U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner and former Marine Paul Whelan, both detained in Russia.

Blinken and Lavrov have not spoken since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Families of the U.S. detainees have been increasing pressure on President Joe Biden, most recently in the case of two-time Olympic gold medallist Griner, who was arrested on drugs charges at a Moscow airport on Feb. 17.

U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner, who was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport and later charged with illegal possession of cannabis, is escorted before a court hearing in Khimki outside Moscow on July 26, 2022. Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool/Reuters

Lavrov told a news conference that talks on prisoner exchanges had been taking place since a summit in Geneva last year where presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden had agreed to nominate officials to look into the issue.

He said his ministry was not involved in that, but “nevertheless, I will listen to what he (Blinken) has to say.”

Speaking during a trip to Uzbekistan, Lavrov said he would talk to Blinken when he returned to his office.

“It’s clear this is unlikely to work out today. But in the coming days we will offer our American colleagues a convenient date,” he said.