Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with the families of two Americans being held in Russia. The families of WNBA player Brittney Griner and former Marine Paul Whelan will meet with Biden at the White House.
The two meetings will be conducted separately. Griner’s wife, Cherelle, will meet with Biden, and so will the sister of Paul Whelan, Elizabeth. It will be the first between Biden and the family members since either American was detained. Biden did make a phone call to both women in July after some public pressure was applied to the White House.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Biden will “discuss his continuing commitment to bringing their family members home safely. As we have said before, we believe that Russia is wrongfully detaining Brittany and Paul under intolerable circumstances.”
The Biden administration does nothing until it is pushed to do so. There has been no sense of urgency exhibited by anyone in the administration, including the State Department, to bring home Americans who they think are unreasonably detained.
Griner’s attorneys are appealing her sentence of a 9 year prison term for drug smuggling. She was arrested for carrying vape cartridges containing cannabis oil found during a search of her bags in a Russian airport. Whether it was an innocent oversight when she was packing her bags, as she claims, it still violated Russian laws. She later claimed she has a medical prescription for the cannabis oil to treat pain but that didn’t fly in Moscow. Businessman Paul Whelan has been held longer on charges of spying. Allegedly the White House has offered to swap two imprisoned Russians, including a notorious arms dealer. The U.S. Ambassador to Russia says the release of Griner and Whelan is his highest priority.
After Griner was sentenced, public outcry, largely orchestrated by her supporters, became frequent and loud. The Whelan family has also been speaking out more frequently. The release of Trevor Reed, another former Marine, in a prisoner swap gave the families of both Griner and Whelan hope that their loved ones could get the same kind of deal. Perhaps Biden has some news of progress to deliver today. There hasn’t been any news in weeks.
The Russians always want numerical parity, in other words, for the U.S. to trade two people in exchange for Griner and Whelan, but Thursday night U.S. officials say the Russians have not come up with a serious counteroffer.
The U.S. and Germany, meanwhile, have categorically rejected suggestions in Russian state media that Vadim Krasikov, a Russian convicted of a political assassination in Berlin, would be turned over by German authorities as part of a deal.
“I would love to say that the purpose of this meeting is to inform the families that the Russians have accepted our offer and we are bringing their loved ones home. That is not what we’re seeing in these negotiations at this time,” Jean-Pierre said. “Look, as we’ve said, the Russians should accept our offer. They should accept our offer today. We will keep working diligently until the day we get to share that good news.”
State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Thursday the talks “have certainly not moved with the speed we would like,” though he would not call the talks stalled. He also did not rule out a meeting between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during the UN sessions in New York next week, saying “if a senior level meeting would help take us one step closer to seeing their release, they would not hesitate to do it.”
The timing of Biden’s meetings with the families is interesting. Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson was in Moscow this week. He has been involved in past hostage negotiations. He didn’t coordinate his visit with the U.S. embassy. State Department spokesman Ned Price said at a briefing on Wednesday that private efforts can interfere with ongoing talks.
“Our concern is that private citizens attempting to broker a deal through the established channel is likely to hinder the efforts that we have undertaken to see the release of Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner,” Price said.
We’ll see how far the Biden administration has gotten in the negotiations. If their past performance over the last nineteen months is any indication, perhaps the families should brace for more frustrations and delays.
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